Driving home from her first roller blading experience in Armstrong, Cadence Taron was safely buckled in the back seat of her mom’s car. The pair were taking it easy as it was raining out that Jan. 15 evening.
But suddenly the vehicle came upon a large pool of water on the highway near the Tolko mill. The car hydroplaned, lost control and flipped onto its roof.
Thanks to her booster seat and seatbelt, eight-year-old Cadence was OK, aside from a little sliver in her knee, but her mom was bruised and bleeding.
“I might have been out for a bit because I cracked my head,” said mom Monique Doling, who couldn’t get any of the doors open.
Initially, the scared little girl was crying, however after seeing that her mom was OK but couldn’t get out to help, Cadence mustered up some bravery and managed to unbuckle herself.
“I just clicked it and then I fell,” said the shy Ellison Elementary student.
As luck would have it, Cadence’s door was the only one that would open.
“Every single door and window was smashed except for hers,” said Doling, getting a little emotional re-living the accident. “The police couldn’t even get the doors open so it’s really good that she did.”
Fumbling around in the dark, on top of not having her glasses, which fell off in the accident, Cadence got herself out of the car and called for her mom to crawl out the backseat.
“She crawled out of a mess,” said Doling, as the car was sitting in a lake of water. “She was super brave that night.”
When Tilly Riva, ICBC claims adjuster, was dealing with the claim and heard what the little girl had done, she immediately contacted her employer to see if there was anyway to acknowledge the young girl’s bravery.
“We are very, very proud of what you did,” Riva told Cadence recently as she presented her with a backpack full of some goodies. “We think you are a big hero.”
Cadence was applauded for taking control of a frightening situation and saving herself and her mom – something Riva never expected a girl of her age to be able to do.
“She’s pretty incredible for eight-years-old,” said Riva, also acknowledging the importance of seatbelts.
Cadence’s proud grandma, Vivian Morris, credits the seatbelt and booster seat for keeping her granddaughter safe.
“Thank goodness for car seats for kids, it saved her,” said Morris.
And ever since that night, Cadence is a big proponent of safety in the car.
“She won’t let anybody in the car without their seatbelt,” said Morris.
And for good reason – Transport Canada estimates that if all drivers and passengers always wore their seatbelt, 300 lives would be saved every year in Canada.
According to ICBC, drivers who are buckled up have five times the risk of dying in a crash if their rear seat passengers are not wearing a seatbelt. Eighty per cent of the deaths from these kind of crashes could be eliminated if the rear seat occupants buckle up. This is because an unrestrained child in a crash can be thrown forward with the force of a 1,200 lb baby elephant.
