OXFORD – “I felt so bad. I felt like crying. I did cry. I felt like I did it to her,” said a young male student as he left the assembly in the Oxford High School following Jacy Good’s presentation.
Jacy Good graduated college at 10 a.m. on May 18, 2008 and had her life planned. She was going to work for Habitat for Humanity and move to New York and live with her boyfriend. She was 21 years old.
Driving home took approximately an hour and a half, according to Good. She rode with her mother and father, and once they reached the halfway mark to home, they stopped at a gas station.
“Stopping at that gas station is the last memory I had for the next two months,” said Good at the presentation in Oxford on Thursday.
Good’s husband, Steve Johnson, said he had received a phone call that day from Good’s phone. “But it wasn’t her,” he said. Johnson explained to the students and others in attendance that the woman on the other line was from a hospital, and she told him there had been an accident.
Johnson explained that he was told to await a phone call in two hours, but more than three hours passed and he hadn’t received a call.
“The only girl I ever even kissed, and she was gone,” Johnson said he thought. He then received a phone call from Good’s brother, notifying him that she was alive; but neither of Good’s parents survived.
“I loved them so much,” said Johnson. “Someday they would have been the greatest grandparents.”
The Goods’ vehicle was struck head-on by a tractor trailer as both entered an intersection with green lights. The truck swerved to try to avoid a man coming from the intersecting road who attempted to turn left through a red light.
That man was talking on his phone at the time.
Good was given a ten percent chance of survival as she lay comatose and nearly unrecognizable in intensive care that first night. “Her beautiful hair was gone, blood was caked on her head, and her head was swollen twice its normal size,” said Johnson. “If you didn’t tell me that was Jacy Good [as he pointed to a photo from the hospital], I wouldn’t have known.”
Johnson said he spent 12 hours a day by her side through four months of hospitalization.
“It sunk in that life was forever going to be changed,” said Johnson.
Good’s list of injuries have managed to heal through time – with the use of titanium rods, plates, and screws – but due to a traumatic brain injury, she is unable to use her left arm or lower leg and has minor lingering cognitive issues.
Good said that once she was transferred to the rehabilitation center from the hospital, she had to take it one day at a time.
“I had to re-learn the alphabet,” said Good. “Learn how to brush my teeth. Put on my shoes. Dress myself. Thankfully, I kept getting better.”
After three months of hospitals and rehab, she was allowed to put weight on her legs. “It was monumental, my first time standing,” said Good. “I took three steps.”
“I thought then that the dreams I had before, that I could still make those happen,” Good said.
Good was able to go home on Sept. 19, 2008. “It had been four months and one day and I got to go home to Mom and Dad’s. I got to finish that 45 minutes home from graduation day.”
Good said that it hurt too much to be true. “I was 21 years old, it couldn’t be true. Mom and Dad weren’t sleeping in their bed at night. Mom and Dad weren’t going to work in the morning.”
Good said she had Googled her name, as she knew very little about the details of the accident. Upon doing so, she learned that the 18-wheeler was a milk truck that had just been filled, and the driver that made the turn that caused the accident was an 18-year-old high school senior.
“Same age as you guys,” Good said.
The driver had his cellphone on speakerphone, stopped at the red light, but said his brain got distracted and didn’t see what was in front of him and tried to make a turn, causing the truck to swerve and hit her family’s car.
Good said both the truck driver and the young man on the phone had bumps and bruises but were alright.
“That milk truck had 30 tons of milk in it,” Good said. “Dad couldn’t take the impact.”
“Mom [who was seated in the back] hadn’t put her seatbelt back on after leaving the gas station and ended up in the front seat,” said Good. “Maybe if she had had her seatbelt on.”
Good explained that she questioned how and why she survived such an event.
“So many lives were affected,” said Good.” The young man, truck driver, both their families, my family. My brother drove separately. Calling family members, planning funerals, picking a rehab for me, that fell on him. Mom was an awesome 8th grade teacher, and so many students and faculty were saddened to hear that Mrs. Good was no more.”
Johnson explained that even if a driver has their phone on speaker or they are using a bluetooth, there is “inattention blindness.”
Johnson added that according to the National Safety Council, cell phone calls cause more crashes than texting. Additionally, one in four drivers on the road are said to be using a cellular device in some manner.
According to Johnson, the National Safety Council determined that speakerphone or a bluetooth is not safer just because it is handsfree. He said it is the act of being engaged in a conversation.
“Thousands of people are killed every year,” said Johnson.
Good said the Judge and the District Attorney in the county where the accident happened did not prosecute the driver who was using his phone. “Basically, they said ‘No one is responsible for the deaths of these people.’”
This prompted Good to reach out to politicians to try to get some sort of bill passed. She said it did not go through.
“You guys know it is dangerous, but having the real thing in front of you is different,” said Good. “You think it’ll never happen to you. For me, my phone goes on silent, in the glove box. Out of sight, out of mind.”
Johnson said, “It may not be the easy or cool thing to do, but if you are a passenger in a car where the driver is using their phone, you might want to ask them to stop. Or offer to check the text for them. Or suggest they let the call go to voicemail.”
Johnson said 15 people care killed every day in the US due to distracted driving, and more than 1,000 are injured, per reports from the National Safety Council.
Good said she is unable to use most of the left side of her body. She will always have the traumatic brain injury. “The rest of my life,” said Good. “No softball, no volleyball, I can’t ride a bike. All because of this person, and the phone.”
“In spite of all of that,” Good said, “I think I am the luckiest person alive. It puts things into perspective. It hurts every day because I don’t have my parents, but luckily that man from New York stood by my side through everything.”
Good asked those in attendance to put themselves in her shoes. No mother to help pick out a wedding dress, no father to walk her down the aisle.
“I want you guys to use this, remember this,” said Good. “It’s senseless, and it’s only going to change if we do something. I am going to do the best with the hand of cards I have been dealt, and I will help to be the one to make a difference.”
Good told the attendees to simply hang up and drive. She said to make a promise to hold someone accountable. “Put your seat belt on and go the speed limit,” she said.
Good said she found it positive that the Oxford Police Department enforces speed zones and writes tickets, as speeding is dangerous.
“Pull over somewhere and check the text if you think it’s that important,” said Good. “It really could be the difference between life and death.”
Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride was in attendance and asked during the question and answer portion which age group is most likely to use their phones while driving.
Johnson said, “It’s often the 25-35 age group of moms and businesspeople who can’t let their phones down.” He said teens also use their phones, but because of billboards and campaigns, they are becoming more aware that there is a time and place for cellphone usage.
Good said it is still scary for her to ride in a car every day. She said she is as attentive as possible and won’t take her hands off the wheel.
An attendee asked if there was a smartphone app to restrict the use of a phone while driving. Johnson recommended a free app called Lifesaver, where it can be set so that if the driver checks their phone while driving, the parents are alerted. Rewards are offered if the user does not unlock their phone while driving for certain periods of time.
Good concluded by saying she hoped all attendees could consider her a friend, and follow her on social media, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.