Reducing the risk of accidents and saving lives

My name is Lulu. I am 24 years old. Before I tell you my story, I would like to ask you a question.

This morning, when you got up, did you think about your legs?

Probably not. Neither did I. I never thought about them. I got up. I walked. I went out. I went to class. All of it simply seemed… normal. I was a Master’s student in software engineering. I had plans, friends, dreams and that silent certainty almost all of us share:

tomorrow would be there.

Then came 31 May 2025. That evening, I simply went out to watch a match. It was the UEFA Champions League final. I met up with friends. We watched the match, talked, laughed. An ordinary evening. After the match, I said goodbye to my friends and headed home. I did not yet know that within a few minutes, one second would separate the life I knew from the one I would now have to learn to live. As I reached a road, I started to cross alongside a woman carrying her baby. She was moving forward without really sensing the danger that was coming. I looked. I saw vehicles. I tried to warn her. But she did not seem to understand. I signalled to her again. And then I saw a motorbike.

It was coming the wrong way.

It was getting closer. The woman kept walking with her baby. In that moment, I did not think about my studies. I did not think about my plans. I did not even think about my legs.

I thought about the baby.

So I stepped in front of them. I wanted to protect them.

And in one second, everything changed.

The motorbike hit me.

The force of the impact threw me onto a taxi that was arriving at high speed. What I would later learn about this accident makes that night even harder to accept: the taxi driver was drunk and was fleeing after fatally hitting a pedestrian a few moments earlier. The taxi lost control. One collision led to another. I found myself trapped between two vehicles.

There, I lost my right leg.

But the vehicle kept going until it crashed into a truck carrying logs. I was thrown underneath it.

And there, I lost my second leg.

A few seconds earlier, I was walking. A few seconds earlier, I was simply a young man heading home after a match. A few seconds earlier…

I had two legs.

ONE SECOND CAN CHANGE AN ENTIRE LIFE.

Before my accident, that sentence might have sounded like a slogan to me. Today, it is my reality. And when I think back to that night, what I understand above all is that it is not the story of a single mistake. It is the story of several seconds.

One second to look once more before crossing.

One second to decide not to ride the wrong way.

One second to choose not to drive after drinking.

One second to slow down.

One second to walk away from a risk.

I will never know what would have happened if just one of those decisions had been different. Perhaps that woman would have seen the danger sooner. Perhaps that motorbike would never have been in front of us. Perhaps that taxi would have been driving more slowly. Perhaps that other pedestrian would still be alive.

Perhaps I would still have both my legs.

I will never know. But I now know one thing: On the road, some seconds never come back.

I lost my legs. Not my future.

My accident interrupted my software engineering studies. It forced me to learn to live differently. But it did not erase my dreams. Today, I want to resume my studies when I have the opportunity. I want to work. To be independent. To build my future.

I lost my legs. I did not lose who I am.

And that is exactly why I agreed to become the GOSAFE Ambassador. Not so that you would pity me. But because if my story can change a single decision on the road, then it deserves to be told. So, the next time you take the road… If you are a pedestrian, never cross out of mere habit. Look left, then right. Then look left again. If you are on a motorbike, keep to your lane and the direction of traffic. If you are behind the wheel, do not drive after drinking. And when you are tempted to speed up to save a few minutes, remember that sometimes, a few seconds saved can cost someone years. That person may be a stranger. But it may also be your passenger. Your child. Your friend.

Or yourself.

Because our bad decisions on the road can destroy the lives of others. But they can also destroy our own.

Today, when you look at my wheelchair…

Do not think only about what I have lost.

Think about everything we can still save.

I cannot go back to 31 May 2025. I cannot ask that woman to look a second time. I cannot put that motorbike back in its lane. I cannot stop that man from getting behind the wheel after drinking. I cannot slow that taxi down. And I cannot get my legs back.

But perhaps you, tomorrow, can take that second.

That second to look. That second to slow down. That second to think. That second to say: “No, I am not driving, I have been drinking.” That second to choose caution over risk. Because that second, which seems to mean nothing today…

could be the one that lets you get home tomorrow.

My name is Lulu.

I was 22 years old and a Master’s student in software engineering when my accident interrupted my studies. I want to resume them. I still have plans, dreams and a life to build. On 31 May 2025, I had two legs. Today, I no longer have them. But I am still here. And if I agree to tell my story, it is not so that you will be afraid of the road.

It is so that you understand the value of one second on the road.

One second can spare you an accident. One second can protect a stranger. One second can protect someone you love.

One second can protect you.

So take it. To look. To slow down. To think. To make the right choice. Because today I can tell you something I would have preferred never to learn this way:

ONE SECOND CAN CHANGE AN ENTIRE LIFE.

Let it protect a life rather than break it.