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Lessons Learned.(personal narratives of Kim Alexander )(Viewpoint essay)
Byline: J.P. VETTRAINO
Kim Alexander was a model teen in Salem, South Carolina, population 125, but she started her last day of high school seething at the injustice in the world. What followed might be described as a fleeting lapse of judgment-something all of us have suffered dozens of times-but this lapse cost Alexander dearly. It also gave us one of our most passionate, dedicated teachers and researchers in the field of highway safety.
Alexander woke up eager that morning in 1979, excited to be graduating with 26 other seniors in Salem. She'd earned good grades and won a basketball scholarship at a junior college, where she hoped to continue wearing No. 13 and to enhance her on-court reputation as "Lightning in a Jar.'' Then her father told her that she wouldn't be able to use the family car that day, and she got angry.
As she rode off with the girlfriend who picked her up, she made what would have been an unthinkable choice just the night before. She'd join some friends for Senior Skip Day and head to a local lake to party. And when one of those friends suggested they get something to celebrate with-at 18, Alexander had reached what was then the legal drinking age-she found herself buying cheap wine.
The lapse lasted a few sips. Not so angry, Alexander rethought her situation and insisted that her friends take her back to school. It's impossible to know if the small amount of alcohol consumed contributed to what happened next, but the road was twisty, and it started to rain. Alexander was belted into the back seat of the Dodge Omni when it hydroplaned about 25 feet and spun backward into a tree.
There was no blood. No one in the car seemed seriously hurt, but the smell of gasoline was intense, and when Alexander didn't get out of the potential deathtrap fast enough, her friends dragged her out. She was picked up from the road by emergency workers and at some point realized she couldn't move. She'd broken her neck.
"That night, I lay immobile in the hospital, thinking, `This is your graduation . . . this is your life,''' she says. "Those were the consequences of the choice I'd made. When you play the odds, even for a brief moment, you never expect you'll be the one to lose.''
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