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28 | North Dakota Spring / Summer 2014 | abusemagazine . org
AFTER TEENS DEATH ,
Weld family promotes safety
Tad Johnson pored through his daughter ’ s Facebook photos the morning after she died in an automobile crash and thought about how , even at 19 , she wanted to own a business - maybe a hair salon . He read comment after comment about her desire to help others when they seemed to need her the most .
Tad was proud of her own determination and devotion to others and , many times , he would wake up at 2:15 a . m . and think to himself how lucky he was to have her call him Dad . But as he clicked through selfies of her behind the wheel , his grieving shifted to frustration and anger . Alexa ’ s death should have been prevented , he thought .
Sure , the white Ford 150 pickup truck she was driving careened off Interstate 25 at highway speeds , but there wasn ’ t that much damage to the truck . When emergency crews arrived , they could still open all four doors . Instead of taking four seconds to buckle up , she kept the clip clicked while she sat in front of the belt , tricking the on-board safety system that blares an obnoxious beep to deter unrestrained driving .
As Tad went through more photos , he realized they all showed a teenage girl beaming with glee but never with a belt draped across her shoulder . Angry at himself for never catching his daughter ’ s blunder and angry at friends for never stopping it , Tad pounded out a Facebook post blasting everyone who failed to shame her into wearing her seat belt . Then he took a breath , hit delete , and wrote a plea to her circle of friends to drive carefully and think of 19-year-old Alexa whenever they fastened their seat belts . He posted it , and it wasn ’ t long before hundreds of friends and family liked , shared and commented on it . That was the “ ah-ha ” moment when he and his wife , Jona , realized the reach of social media sites like Facebook . The post he wrote reached audiences they never imagined possible , and it would be just the beginning .
Like a growing number of people afflicted by tragedy , the Johnsons were awestruck by the power of social media in wake of tragedies , and they realized they had an opportunity to be more than a grieving family who lost a child in a vehicle crash on Weld County roads . They had a chance to prevent other families from feeling their pain .
Tad and Jona ’ s nightmare started with a crazed ring of a doorbell and a dog named Patches that was yelping relentlessly . Amid a sea of early February darkness , the two fumbled their way around their Loveland home and rushed toward the front door where a flashlight ’ s beam shined through the door ’ s glass window . Tad figured something tragic must have happened , even before the Colorado State Patrol officer said a word .
“ The longest walk I ever took was from that front door to that couch ,” he says from the couple ’ s dining room table . He points across the open living room toward the door , re-living the somber 20-foot trek he took with the trooper . “ I already knew .”
The grieving process began instantly , and the days painfully ticked by as the family arranged funeral services and tried to comprehend life without Alexa ’ s energy . She had recently graduated from Loveland High School and was working at car sales shops in the area , yet remained available at all hours of the day to help a friend . That ’ s where she was heading Feb . 10 when , shortly after 2 a . m ., her truck left the southbound lanes of Interstate 25 between the Johnstown and Berthoud exits , rolled over and ejected her .
“ The nights are the hardest when you ’ re grieving ,” he said . “ The night is when you ’ re alone . It ’ s just you and the dead silence . It was very therapeutic for me to go through her photos .”
Among the things Tad and Jona missed most about Alexa was the embrace of her hug . Every time the couple would drive somewhere , they would think about how differently things could have been if Alexa was still alive or had worn her seat belt properly . And every time they pulled the strap across their shoulders , they thought of it as a hug from their daughter . Seeking a way to blend Alexa ’ s story with a seat belt awareness campaign , they created Alexa ’ s Hugs . From their home , they would craft decorated pieces of ribbon and Velcro that people could place on their seat belts to remember her - it was like her hug . The goal was just to keep her memory alive but , through the powers of social media , the campaign ’ s popularity exploded . Friends started posting photos of themselves wearing the ribbon . Companies started sponsoring concert ticket raffles or gas money that would be awarded to someone who posted a photo of a buckled seat belt and a ribbon . Interest grew . Local newspaper and television stations featured the campaign - stories that were shared across the country . The months crept by , and the orders for hugs kept growing and growing as more and more people learned about them through Facebook .
Tad got a call last spring from a woman who lived in an extremely rural town just a stone ’ s throw from the Canadian border in North Dakota . The woman had seen a Colorado news story that was shared via social media , and she wanted to give ribbons advocating seat belt safety to her area ’ s entire high school graduating class - all 13 students . Coupled with calls from people in virtually every state requesting the home made hugs , the success of the program that had gone
Source : http :// m . washingtontimes . com / news / 2014 / jan / 18 / afterteens-death-weld-family-promotes-safety /? page = all # Source pagebreak