Posted 4:17 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014
Chantel Banks, a therapeutic recreation and pre-occupational therapy major, is sharing the story of what happens when people don’t wear their seatbelts through a Wisconsin Department of Transportation campaign.
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Chantel Banks[/caption]
Today UW-L Senior Chantel Banks buckles up every time she gets in a vehicle. Had she taken that simple step on May 27, 2012, Banks says her life would be a lot different today. She’d still have use of her legs to jump in her truck or on her horse to go wherever, whenever she chooses.
Banks, a therapeutic recreation and pre-occupational therapy major, was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident. She’s now sharing the story of what happens when people don’t wear their seatbelts through a Wisconsin Department of Transportation campaign — Zero In Wisconsin.
The campaign is an effort by the DOT and other partners to bring the total deaths in Wisconsin from traffic crashes from about 570 on average each year to zero. Most of the deaths are caused by preventable behaviors such as speeding, driving while impaired or not wearing a seatbelt, according to the DOT.
Banks tells the story of how the crash happened in a campaign video. She went for a drive with three friends just minutes from her home. She was speeding and not wearing a seat belt. When the car hit a small knoll in the road, it came down on three wheels and went airborne. It rolled several times, ejecting Banks and then rolling on top of her. The impact broke her back and caused the paralysis.
Two other girls in the car were wearing their seatbelts. They stayed in the vehicle, sustained minor injuries and were able to go home from the hospital the next day. The other girl who didn’t wear a seatbelt was also injured, but not as badly as Banks.
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Chantel Banks started at UW-L in spring 2012, a transfer student from Lincoln Christian University in Lincoln, Illinois. Banks is pictured here with her friend, UW-L student Jordyn Smith.[/caption]
Banks says it’s taken her a long time to get to the emotional state she’s in today. She’s worked through anger, depression and feeling sorry for herself for everything she’s lost. Eventually, she began to think of all the things she could still do. One of those things, Banks realized, was coming back to school at UW-L in July 2013 — a year after the accident.
“That was one of the greatest things I did,” she says. “I was away from my family and I had to learn to depend on myself again. It helped me realize how much strength I actually had and how much passion I had for helping others.”
Banks, originally an athletic training major, switched her major to occupational therapy. She wants to help people recovering from injury regain their skills. She says OT helped her learn skills like how to get dressed in a chair and cook for herself.
In addition to learning a new way of living, Banks is learning more about herself. Before the accident, she was most interested partying and didn’t care much about school. Now, she is focused on her future. She’s involved in a service sorority, volunteers at an adult day center, and is vice president of the student organization Students Advocating Potential Ability. She shares her story at area schools and now with people all over the state through the DOT campaign.
“I used to be deathly afraid of public speaking, but I’m getting over it,” she says. “This has made me realize life is too short to not do what you want to or to say you don’t have time for something. If it’s important, then you make time for it.”
Banks says being part of the DOT campaign is something she needs to make time for.
“It’s about maybe saving a life or two instead of watching people go through the same thing that I went through,” she says.
Chantel Banks[/caption]
Today UW-L Senior Chantel Banks buckles up every time she gets in a vehicle. Had she taken that simple step on May 27, 2012, Banks says her life would be a lot different today. She’d still have use of her legs to jump in her truck or on her horse to go wherever, whenever she chooses.
Banks, a therapeutic recreation and pre-occupational therapy major, was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident. She’s now sharing the story of what happens when people don’t wear their seatbelts through a Wisconsin Department of Transportation campaign — Zero In Wisconsin.
The campaign is an effort by the DOT and other partners to bring the total deaths in Wisconsin from traffic crashes from about 570 on average each year to zero. Most of the deaths are caused by preventable behaviors such as speeding, driving while impaired or not wearing a seatbelt, according to the DOT.
Banks tells the story of how the crash happened in a campaign video. She went for a drive with three friends just minutes from her home. She was speeding and not wearing a seat belt. When the car hit a small knoll in the road, it came down on three wheels and went airborne. It rolled several times, ejecting Banks and then rolling on top of her. The impact broke her back and caused the paralysis.
Two other girls in the car were wearing their seatbelts. They stayed in the vehicle, sustained minor injuries and were able to go home from the hospital the next day. The other girl who didn’t wear a seatbelt was also injured, but not as badly as Banks.
[caption id="attachment_37703" align="alignright" width="600"] Chantel Banks started at UW-L in spring 2012, a transfer student from Lincoln Christian University in Lincoln, Illinois. Banks is pictured here with her friend, UW-L student Jordyn Smith.[/caption]
Banks says it’s taken her a long time to get to the emotional state she’s in today. She’s worked through anger, depression and feeling sorry for herself for everything she’s lost. Eventually, she began to think of all the things she could still do. One of those things, Banks realized, was coming back to school at UW-L in July 2013 — a year after the accident.
“That was one of the greatest things I did,” she says. “I was away from my family and I had to learn to depend on myself again. It helped me realize how much strength I actually had and how much passion I had for helping others.”
Banks, originally an athletic training major, switched her major to occupational therapy. She wants to help people recovering from injury regain their skills. She says OT helped her learn skills like how to get dressed in a chair and cook for herself.
In addition to learning a new way of living, Banks is learning more about herself. Before the accident, she was most interested partying and didn’t care much about school. Now, she is focused on her future. She’s involved in a service sorority, volunteers at an adult day center, and is vice president of the student organization Students Advocating Potential Ability. She shares her story at area schools and now with people all over the state through the DOT campaign.
“I used to be deathly afraid of public speaking, but I’m getting over it,” she says. “This has made me realize life is too short to not do what you want to or to say you don’t have time for something. If it’s important, then you make time for it.”
Banks says being part of the DOT campaign is something she needs to make time for.
“It’s about maybe saving a life or two instead of watching people go through the same thing that I went through,” she says.