Attorney Steven Benvenisti Devotes Life to Helping Others

If you’re wondering what turning pain into purpose looks like, this story is for you. Nearly killed at age 21 by a drunk driver, Steven Benvenisti fought back from a horrific brain injury and underwent more than a dozen surgeries to repair his body. He made a vow that if he recovered he would devote his life to advocating against drunk driving. He’s done that and more, becoming an attorney helping accident victims to be compensated for their injuries. That’s all up next on Still Time for Joy, where we share practical advice for weathering life storms and inspiring stories of resilience.

Sandra: Hello I’m Sandra LaVine, host of Still Time for Joy. My guest today is Steven Benvenisti, a personal injury attorney and partner at Davis, Sapperstein, and Solomon in Teaneck New Jersey. A tireless advocate for Mothers Against Drunk Driving and president of the Board of Trustees of the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey. Welcome to the show Steven.

Steven: Thank you so much, Sandy. it is really my pleasure to be here with you this afternoon.

Sandy: Now we got to know each other just a little bit about 15 years ago. We were both scheduled to speak at a conference about brain injury recovery but the conference didn’t happen, so I’m so glad to be able to help you tell your story today. I’ve always been very inspired by your story, so it’s great to meet you. 

Steven: And same here and I thank you.

Sandy: So I know this can’t be easy even though you’ve told the story so many times but tell us what happened to you when you were 21 years old and on spring break in Daytona Beach Florida.

Steven:  I was with my friends and we were all celebrating that we were about to finish college. For myself, I was waiting for responses from law schools because I had applications that were out there. And then one night, it was actually March 20th, I was walking with my friends having no idea that while we were walking that there was a repeat offender drunk driver who was behind the wheel of a car and he was driving with his lights off at speeds that were measured to be in excess of 50mph, 5 0,  and then while crossing the street he had lost control of his steering wheel, went in the wrong direction and he actually crashed into my body. From the reconstruction, I understand he crashed into my legs crushing them upon impact, my torso then smashed against the hood of his car, and there were people in the area who heard an unusual explosion sound, and that was actually the sound of my face going through his outside windshield and then my body was thrown about 70 feet before I landed face down.

Sandy: So terrible terrible injuries, I know you were in a coma for about 10 days. Describe what it was like when the accident first happened. I understand also that doctors asked your parents if they could donate your organs?

Steven: Before this happened to me, I really didn’t know much about the brain, and then after this happened to me, naturally I’ve certainly learned a lot. And I learned that when someone is in a coma, that there’s a way to measure their level of consciousness and something called the Glascow Coma score or Glascow Coma Scale, the lowest number one could be at is the number three, and then the full level of consciousness where you and I are right now is the number 15. The Journal of American Medical Association has agreed that if someone is at a three where I was at the time that their likelihood of survival is is very very low and the few reported cases where someone has survived after being such a deep coma that they were at a Glascow Coma score of three those individuals sadly are are profoundly disabled and I, unfortunately, was at that level of three, and my family received a phone call that every family prays that they’ll never get, and it was from a hospital, and the hospital was a thousand miles away, my family was in New Jersey, and it was in Daytona Beach Florida where the doctors explained all that in the most concise manner they could. They encouraged my family to come to Florida immediately and before that first phone call was over, they actually asked my parents if they would consent to my organ donation in the likely event that I passed away while they were in flight to Daytona Beach Florida. I’ve since learned that that happens quite often, even in my capacity as a personal injury attorney, when I’ve had clients who were literally so close to death. Those are the calls that are made and there is a practical benefit to getting right to the point because if they would have been disconnected or if they did not have an opportunity to speak with the only people who really had authority to speak on my behalf, my parents, then they could have lost the opportunity o harvest my organs for a donation for those who were in need.

Sandy: So did they tell them, “No, we’d like you to wait till we get there and assess the situations ourselves?”

Steven: As we all know, no parent is trained to get a phone call like that and they just said please do what you can to keep him alive and we’re going to get to Daytona Beast Florida today. They said that even though it was during probably the busiest time of the year, during College spring break. What my parents did was they went to Newark International Airport and they got a standby flight to Daytona Beach Florida. And my parents said that while they were on the airplane, they were on a flight with all these young, happy, smiling college springbreakers who were around my age and my mother thought maybe there was a chance that when they landed at the airport maybe I would be there, maybe it was all a big misunderstanding. But they got to Daytona Beach Florida within probably 8 hours and they were brought actually to see the doctors before being brought to see me, and that’s when they learned that they had almost lost me while in flight. I had what’s called a hypotension incident where my blood pressure got dangerously low but I was still alive just barely when they got to the hospital in Daytona Beach Florida.

Sandy: So I know just a little bit about brain injury and brain injury recovery because my husband actually had an acquired brain injury, nowhere near as life-threatening as your injuries, were for the length of time but in any case, I have the experience of watching his recovery and it took many many years, but I also know that so many people who have a traumatic brain injury to the extent you did really don’t make a recovery if they survive at all,  both cognitively and physically, so the fact that you survived is a miracle and then that you recovered to the point you did, you have to help us understand how were you able to do that. 

Steven: Well, understandably my parents were asking the doctors when they got to Florida is how they could uh do whatever the doctors recommended to try to maximize the likelihood of my just waking up from the coma. And at that initial point, it was less about what I would be like when I woke up from the coma, it was more about if I would wake up from a coma and what they could do. The doctors understandably didn’t have a lot of answers based on the medical literature then and even the medical literature nowadays, so my parents on their own bought a recording of my girlfriend and family members cheering me on, they actually got a room in the hospital so someone could be by my side continuously, and what they did is they stayed by my side while I was in a coma, playing recordings to me, talking to me, and it wasn’t until more than a decade later when the medical literature supported that that is probably the best thing a family could do when they have a loved one who’s in a coma, and that’s what they did. Interestingly, when I woke up from the coma almost two weeks later, I started to talk about many of the things that were said to me while I was unconscious in that coma, and that supports the medical literature and the author that says that this is what you should do when your loved one is in a coma. The part that was most difficult and humbling for me, was that I all of a sudden awoke from a coma being so confused, I did not know my own name at the time, I did not recognize my family, and all of the memories that I had of what I did on the vacation before the spring break, I was on other long-term memories, which were just lost. And I didn’t know if they would be forever or if it was temporary, but functionally, what was most difficult was I could no longer comprehend reading. Here I was at the top of my class academically at the College of New Jersey, known at the time as Trenton State College, and now I couldn’t read a paragraph in a book and tell anybody what it was that I just read. Words that were common to my vocabulary weren’t coming to me when I was just trying to articulate my thoughts. I wouldn’t even remember if I ate breakfast the same day. And according to the literature, then and even nowadays there is no cure to any type of brain injury, whether it’s a mild traumatic brain injury or for me, it was a severe traumatic brain injury. And that’s why I began with the word humbling, because it was humbling, it was terrifying, and I had a journey ahead of me and I just did not know how I was going to accomplish it. I was as grateful as my family was, that I was alive.  I was embarrassed and humbled at the age of 21 that this was my new reality. That even after a few months, when my friends started to visit me, it was very clear to them that I had changed, and it was very difficult for me because I wanted to give the impression that I hadn’t changed, and I wanted them to remember who I was before all this happened to me. Over time in the hospital I did start to get some of the long-term memories back. I did start to remember my college experiences, of course my family and my girlfriend. I started to remember my friends. But the most difficult part was trying to function at any level when I had such a limited ability to use words that were common to my vocabulary, to comprehend reading, and to just carry on a conversation without being interrupted, without being distracted, because if that would happen, I really literally would be lost as to where I  was. So I can continue but that’s essentially the summary as to where I was and what I was facing. 

Sandy: But you told me that you had already been planning to go to law school and were applying to law schools before this happened, and it took you a year to finish college work that was supposed to only be six weeks, and you worked through that you kept working and working and cognitively, slowly things were coming back, but you told me when we spoke earlier that it was the first year of law school that helped you to recover because it was so demanding that it helped your brain to form new pathways. Is that correct?

Steven: That is correct. And the way it began though, I started getting responses from law schools while I was still in acute care within the first two months of me being struck by this drunk driver. And it was very unrealistic for me to even consider law school because I didn’t even have the cognitive ability to finish the last six weeks that I had left in college. I was 21 years old, I demanded that the doctors communicate directly with me, and I didn’t like what I was hearing. I didn’t like what I was hearing. Putting aside the orthopedic injuries just with regard to my brain injuries, that they could not give me any assurances with regard to my prognosis, that a simple way of putting it, there are different ways of classifying how someone’s a level of being in a coma and how severe, moderate, or mild their brain injury may be, and they said because of the amount of time that I was in a coma, I had a severe traumatic brain injury and they could not make any assurances as to what my future look like and they didn’t really have any stories to support my desire even if it was unrealistic to get back to where I was beforehand. So I had a lot of work to do. My college was kind enough to extend my senior year another year so that I could do what was necessary to finish those six weeks. My law school was kind enough to extend my acceptance to law school by one year so that I could have the rehab that I needed. But as soon as I got to law school with all of the cognitive problems that I had I questioned whether or not I even made the right decision by going to law school. I decided to take it one day at a time. Really one minute at a time. And it was not very pleasant. And for anyone out there who’s known someone who’s been to law school they can tell you that the first year of law school more so than any part of the experience, is probably the most difficult, because you’re faced with challenges that you’ve never been faced before in your college curriculum. And you’re studying at such an intense level that it feels as if you’re studying every waking moment of your of your conscious existence. So as unpleasant as that was, I was doing that in law school and then I noticed something was happening. I noticed as the days, the weeks, and the months of the first year of law school were progressing, I noticed that with that intense curriculum, with my studying literally every waking moment of my conscious existence, and it really is like that in the first year of law school, I noticed that my memory started getting better. I noticed that my ability to comprehend what I was reading was getting better. I noticed I wasn’t getting lost while I was driving. I noticed that words were coming to me when I needed them. Something very special was happening and it was that was definitely the most pleasant aspect of my first year of law school experience, but at that point, I was determined to finish law school simply because I really was thrilled to see that things were getting better. Fast forward at the time to the end of my first year of law school, I fortunately had passed all of the examinations and the first thing I wanted to do that summer while all of my friends in law school were excited to go to the beach or work in law firms, I wanted to go find a neuropsychologist. I wanted to know whether my belief that I had gotten better could be verified, whether it could be proved. So that’s somewhat I remember researching and finding a very reputable neuropsychologist,  and for those of you who don’t know  a neuropsychologist to this day is the only professional who through cognitive testing can adequately determine whether or not you have any cognitive deficits, especially deficits that are caused by a traumatic brain injury. So I went to the neuropsychologist. I remember as if it was yesterday and I told him my story, and I told him that I believed that I was fully recovered. He actually questioned me with regard to my self-confidence, but after a full day of neuropsychological testing, to his surprise but not to mine, he could not find anything wrong with me because of what had happened, when I sustained the severe traumatic brain injury. That gave me a lot of confidence, and it was enough confidence to immediately go back to finish my second and third year of law school. I graduated in the top portion of my class. I studied for six weeks for the bar exam. I winged the Pennsylvania bar exam. I took the New Jersey bar exam, I got very high scores on the multi-state bar exam enough for me to wave into other states without taking those states’ Bar exams. Even to tell you that, I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to toot my own horn or show off, I want to be very direct and transparent as to what was the unique variable in my recovery, and I genuinely believe to this day, other than of course the importance of people praying for me. my amazing family and the support that they gave me, and my friends and my girlfriend, what was probably unique, more unique than all the other stories was I decided to and did the first year of law school. 

Sandy: Amazing, amazing, amazing. Now I understand you made a vow that if you had a full recovery. Tell me what your vow was.

Steven: And this is when I was in the hospital hearing from the doctors that, because of both my orthopedic injuries and my brain injuries, that it was a little unrealistic at the time to even think about having a full recovery, they really wanted to encourage me, that I needed to do it in smaller segments. So I made a vow at the time, when times were bad, and I said, if there was a way in spite of what it says in the medical literature, for me to have a 100% full recovery from everything that happened to my body, from everything that happened in my brain, I vowed or I should say, I pledged that I would spend the rest of my life doing everything I could do, to not only prevent drunk driving, because a drunk driver did this to me, but also to help people who were living with brain injury. And that was the vow I made back in 1989 when this happened to me when I was still 21 years old.

Sandy: And you became a personal injury attorney and you are helping others who have been severely injured to regain their lives to be compensated for their injuries. How does your own personal experience affect you as a lawyer? what do you bring to the table that others don’t?

Steven: Well, if I could just briefly bring you through that journey and that pledge that I made, that was a pledge I put a lot of pressure on myself, that if that dream was ever fulfilled that I would fulfill that pledge and I just didn’t realize it at the time as to how much would be involved for even to be for me to even come close to having the full recovery, that I dreamed of. So it began by my being in hospitals for half a year, undergoing actually 15 surgeries, undergoing all of the therapies whether it’s from cognitive therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, there was so much to do just for me to get to a functional level and then when I got to a functional level, my goal was to get to what could objectively be said as have been having had a full recovery, and I ultimately was able to have that recovery that I dreamed of. And I started to fulfill that pledge that I made when I was in the hospital, when I was in acute care. And it started by me speaking with audiences, but I also was on track to go to law school and then ultimately become an attorney, and that’s what I wanted to do. And you know I would love to say when I speak with an audience, and I’ve spoken to to over 500 audiences since then, I would love to be able to share with you that it was my resilience and my drive to become an attorney, and that’s what pushed me to do everything that I needed to do to get to where I am. But that wouldn’t be honest, what was motivating me was that I was actually humbled so much that I was ashamed as to what had happened to me. Because of this strong driver, I was ashamed that I could no longer walk, I was ashamed that I could no longer function the way I was supposed to function at the age of 21, and although that might not be admirable, that really was my biggest motivating force to keep pushing myself, and pushing myself to try to continue to improve. And now fast forward to the present day and after my recovery and when I look back at what I’ve been through, and I’ve been representing literally thousands and thousands of clients since this has happened to me I see them going through those same journeys, different journeys. I never want to say to someone that it was less of a journey, what they are going through and have been through than what I’ve been through, because what they all have in common is that there are activities and functions that people were able to do before an event, that they were able to take for granted, and then an event happens, whether it’s a stroke whether, it’s a car crash, or something else that suddenly changes and brings that person to where they’re no longer able to do certain activities and things and functions that they were able to take for granted before. So the impact it has on me as an attorney, is I realized that when I’m representing a client, no matter what their injury is, that they lost as much as I lost when this happened to me. Someone’s ability to function fully but now they can’t function fully because of a lower back injury. That lower back injury means the world to someone. Someone who had full function of their upper extremities and now have limited functions with regard to their upper extremities. That means the world to  someone who sustains a mild traumatic brain injury, who now may need to keep more lists, now who may need to read a paragraph a few more times to fully get what they read, that means the world to that individual, and the way it impacted me as an attorney is I instill in every single client that I represent that I understand that something that they treasure has been stolen from them and really the only way, In fairness, in our current legal system to really bring them a quality of life that’s been stolen from them through no fault of their own is through money damages. And that really is a way of bringing a quality of life to a person through money damages that can’t be brought to them by bringing back to their health condition, free of any injuries or disabilities that they were before the trauma that brought them to my office.

Sandy: So you come to the table with a tremendous amount of understanding from your own personal experience and a tremendous amount of compassion, and what most people don’t realize when somebody has a brain injury, cause my husband and I have lived through this, even when things look fine, even when somebody physically makes a very good recovery, even cognitively when they come back a long way, or in your case all the way, generally, your life is still changed. They talk about new normal and you have to make adjustments, you’re forced to make adjustments to live with things that are different than they were before, and most of your friends and family, even if they know you well may not understand what you’ve been through and what you’ve lost, so kudos to you for bringing that level of compassion and understanding to your work.

Steven: Thank you, and I think a lot of it is because it was just so humbling and my heart goes out to people who are living with a brain injury because it really is an invisible injury. And of course, when they’re interacting with someone, a person has expectations that that person who sustained injury is going to be able to function at the same level that a reasonable person would function. Or what they would necessarily expect a person to function at and what they start to realize at least the people who’ve been injured, is that people that they’re interacting with start to recognize that something is different.  And unfortunately, what that creates for the victim is a very lonely reality, and what it does is it reinforces that person to maybe not put themselves out there as much as they should. And you know, my message to people, if I may, getting better isn’t what I’m most grateful for, what I’m most grateful for is that my experience helped me realize that the only definition of success in life is being happy, and I recognize a lot of people think well, no, definition of success in life is when you have wealth for example, and my response to them is well let’s look at all the wealthy people in our society, whether it’s famous performers, actors, actresses, athletes, these same groups of individuals who have a high prevalence of wealth also have a high prevalence of depression, drug use, even suicide, so it’s definitely not wealth. sSme people will say no, it’s when you have your good health, my response to them is look at these people out there whether they’re young people, or otherwise who are blessed with good health, but they still haven’t found happiness, so without trying to really send the wrong message with regard to what getting better can  bring to a person, it really doesn’t matter if a person has not found happiness, and what I started to realize while I was in the hospital, or while I was literally confined to a bed, not even being able to move to a wheelchair independently, I started to remember why it was I was so happy before all this happened to me, it wasn’t because of my grade point average, it wasn’t because of my athletic abilities or my trophies, the only reason why I was happy on a regular basis was because I chose, whenever I had time to think to think about things that made me smile. and then I realized the only reason why anyone is happy or unhappy at any given time, it’s less about their wealth, or their circumstances, or their health, and it’s more about what it is that they’re thinking about. And what I tried to instill in audiences when I’m sharing my story with them and sharing my genuine belief that happiness is all that matters is I say, picture when you’re driving to work or to school whether it’s 5, 10, 15 minutes, or otherwise if you’re thinking about not looking forward to a test I’m about to take, I’m not looking forward to a deadline after me to seeing my boss, whatever you’re thinking about, guaranteed if you’re thinking those thoughts while you’re driving to work or wherever you’re going, you’re not going to be happy. Take that same person driving, they could be thinking I’m so happy to see Sally, or Joe, or Sandy at work, if they’re consuming their mind with thoughts that make them smile during that commute, they’re going to be in a happy mood. And what I try to share with them is if they get in the habit of thinking about things that make them smile, that what’s going to follow is they’re just going to be a person who has found happiness. And that’s in addition to people who get the benefit of therapy or even medications, I don’t in any way want to undermine those very important tools, but I ask people to just supplement it with that very simple formula of consuming your mind with, and getting in the habit of consuming your mind with things that make you smile. And that is certainly a pathway to find happiness, and as far as I’m concerned, that is the only definition of success that exists, is when you have found happiness.

Sandy: So, happiness is a choice, it’s all about your thoughts, it’s also about acceptance, and gratitude, and your values, and all those things, and there’s nothing like a near-death experience and years of rehab, to bring all these things into focus. So, you wrote a book called Spring Break: A  True Story of Hope and Determination, about your experience, and as you mentioned already, you do frequent public speaking programs, and you donate all the proceeds from the book and from your public speaking programs, they go directly to nonprofits, you take no fees whatsoever. What is the message quickly in your book, and in your public speaking programs, and I want you to include the work you do with teenagers about taking a pledge, especially around prom time.

Steven: Initially, my goal for authoring Spring Break: A  True Story of Hope and Determination, was I wanted to fulfill that pledge that I made to myself with regard to having an impact on limiting drunk driving in this country. And then I noticed that when students would hear my story the way I would tell it, that the outcome would be that they would take a pledge to never drink and drive, and most importantly they would keep that pledge. And I’ve heard that thousands of times from teenagers, that by hearing my story, that they have taken and kept a pledge to never get behind the wheel of a car after they’ve been drinking. So I thought, what better way to spread that message because I certainly can’t speak to every teen everywhere, is to put it in the form of a book. The other reason why I author Spring Break: A  True Story of Hope and Determination, is because I started to after my recovery, after I gave my physicians permission to share my recovery with their contemporaries, I started to be contacted by individuals, families, and then organizations around the country. and organizations around the world, who asked me to speak at their conferences to discuss my story and how it is that I obtained the recovery that I had, and recognizing that I would not spend the rest of my life traveling throughout the world, I thought by authoring Spring Break: A  True Story of Hope and Determination, that would be one way that I could convey that message and potentially you know, limit the exposure that I had of having to fly myself around the world to speak to every possible audience that I could. And the outcome for me is that I have been receiving from people feedback that how my story, or my book has put them in a position where they realize that there is hope, but what’s been most gratifying to me is the students who have taken and kept the pledge that if they’re ever going to drink they will not drive. It’s also been gratifying to me to know that people have realized that they don’t have to put the enormous overwhelming burden on their shoulders to figure out how to get better, which may or may not be realistic, and I’m putting it simply when I say getting better, and then realize that the first thing that they should try to accomplish is to journey through this life with a genuine smile on their face.

Sandy: And you’ve done a tremendous amount of work for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, as I mentioned earlier, you’re also president of the Board of Trustees of the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey. Besides asking teens to pledge not to drive if they’ve been drinking, there’s a second part to that that involves parents. Just very quickly, summarize what the pledge is.

Steven:  I’m the current chair of the board of Mothers Against Drunk Driving New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. I’m one of less than 15 National ambassadors for Mothers Against Drunk Driving National, and the message that I have for teens isn’t just that if they ever are going to make the decision to drink that they will not drive, I ask them to take it further that if they are around people who’ve made the decision to drink, and they’re going to be about to make the decision to get behind the wheel of their car, to please to do what they can within reason to stop them from drinking and driving. And I’ve heard so many stories where they’ve done that and here’s my message to parents, my message to parents is that your kids are paying attention that words do matter, your actions do matter, and no matter how young your son or daughter is, that it’s important to instill in them the importance of never drinking and driving. But if they try to do that, and if at the same time they are participating in that type of behavior, that they’re sending a mixed message and the outcome will not be one where their children really comply with what they would like them to comply with is making the decision to never drink and drive. And I came up with something called the Contract for Life. It’s a document that parents or guardians and their son or daughter enter into, where both the parent or parents or the Guardians and the son and daughter promise that if they’re ever going to be drinking that they will not drive. And the parents have to take it a step further, I ask the parents in that contract, to promise that if their son or daughter calls them or contacts them at any hour from any location, that their only ride home is from either themselves who had a drink or someone else who’s had a drink, that the parent or Guardian will stop what they’re doing, they will go get their son or daughter, that they will get them home safely, and most importantly they won’t hassle them or punish them for making that call. And what I remind every single student as to bringing that contract home and sharing with their parent is their parent would much rather get that call from them versus God forbid, getting it from a hospital or a morgue. I had to share with audiences that we lose in this country over 10,000 people every single year to drunk and drugged driving. Unfortunately, now, the number is over 13,000 people per year. You would think that with all of the tools that people have at their disposal including Uber or Lyft, or calling a taxi, you would think that those numbers would go down but unfortunately, they’re actually going up. 

Sandy: That’s shocking and very discouraging. And I wanted to ask you if you don’t mind sharing on a personal level, you have two now grown children, how did you handle the discussions with them when they were teenagers about drinking and driving?

Steven: Well, I am of the belief that those dialogues should happen as young as possible, and the analogy that I always make is that so many kids know how important it is to wear a seat belt and they’ve been told that since before they could probably talk. So I thought with my own kids, I started that dialogue with my kids as early as possible and now my son has graduated college, my daughter is a senior in college, and I am so grateful for the fact that those lessons that I tried to instill in them have remained and that they have, thank God, manifested my request to them that they will never drink and drive.  And all I can do is share that story and that message to parents that that they should instill that that those very important values in their kids at young as at as young an age as is possible, and to also set an example at the same time.

Sandy: So I wanted to mention the fact that you had won a couple of awards, and I looked online at your Awards and I came up with the document that’s four pages long, but I did want to just pick out a couple here to tell people about some of the recognition you’ve received. You received the Humanitarian Award from the College of New Jersey. You also were recognized by the United States Senate, by the US House of Representatives, I know so many local Regional and National associations have recognized you for your incredible work, both on behalf of combating drunk driving and supporting the brain injury community. So, what I want to know is what is your vision for the future Steven? What else needs to be done both to try to bring some of those numbers down with drunk driving? And also to improve conditions and outcomes for people with brain injury.

Steven: Well, to put it simply with regard to drunk driving, I want there to be no more victims or drunk, drugged, or impaired driving ever, that is my vision, that is my goal, that is the goal of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, that there are no more victims. We’ve got a way to go to get there, but it’s also there’s a sense of urgency involved, because even though that is a goal that we are all striving for, it is heartbreaking when you hear any story about anyone’s life who is altered, changed, or ended because of drunk or drug driving. So all we can do is continue to try to instill those messages in others and also take advantage of technology which is available, that can hopefully result in a day when we can have vehicles which passively detect when there’s an operator of the vehicle who’s been drinking and is not in a position where they can drive. Another tool that’s used in every single state, applies to convicted drunk drivers, a convicted drunk driver, at some point whether it’s after one conviction, two convictions, or otherwise, are required as a precondition to getting behind the wheel again to install what’s called an ignition interlock device in their car. And then we at Mothers Against Drunk Driving started to see that when the law and state was tweak where not just a second time convicted drunk driver, or third, or fourth, but that every single person, even a first time convicted drunk driver, is required for a period of time to have this device installed in their car as a precondition to driving again. That the data from those changes has resulted in a remarkable reduction in rearrest rates and in fatalities. Over a 75% reduction in rearrest rates from drunk driving, and a reduction in fatalities of an average of 15% nationwide. Some states having a reduction in fatalities just by changing the law a little bit, by requiring every drunk driving offender, everyone who’s been convicted of drunk driving including first time offenders, to get this device. Some states have seen a reduction of up to 50% under those circumstances. And with regard to people who are living with brain injury, it’s amazing that even nowadays how little we know about the brain, but I think one thing is consistent, that the harder a person tries, that the more a person tries to be their best possible self, with  cognitive stimulation, whether it’s by way of rehab, which is ideal, but even if it’s by way of challenging yourself cognitively through other means, whether it’s reading or otherwise, that they will start to see differences, they will start to see improvement. Buut really, you ask me what my goal is, specifically with regard to people who are living with brain injury, and it really is very simply that they journey through this life with a smile on their face, and that they’d be happy.

Sandy: So, how do you feel about your work wrapping up now as a personal injury attorney when you’re able to get a settlement for somebody whose life has been terribly changed by an injury through no fault of their own, how do you feel when you have success with your clients?

Steven: I feel a little bit of vindication because the person who hit me was uninsured. The bar where that person was drinking also did not have insurance to cover for these types of incidents, so I did not get a victory in a lawsuit against the party that resulted in me getting damages that in today’s dollars, would have been substantial. But I am able to share with people that I do get to see, I’ve been a lawyer now for almost 30 years, and in that capacity I’ve been able to see how people have been able to modify their lives through something as simple  getting money that they did not otherwise have. Everyone who’s watching this right now knows that there’s a value to money. Everybody who’s watching us right now knows that when you get money that your burden in this life is eased, that your quality of life is improved, and playing that role in the thousands of clients that I have represented and continue to represent in their lives, to me is the biggest honor that I could possibly have as an attorney.

Sandy: Sure, when people suffer a brain injury their ability to earn a living can be completely ruined among other things. And lastly Steven, what would you like to say to your parents, to your family members, to the doctors, to the community that supported you during your incredible recovery.

Steven: I can’t imagine where my recovery would have gone had I not had my parents by my side, had I not had my brother or my two sisters by my side. What it would have been like if I didn’t have Mothers Against Drunk Driving there to support me and to support my family members, and all I can say is that I cannot rewrite history but if I could do it all over again, I really wouldn’t change a thing because it brought me to where I am today, and I’m really am one of the happiest people I know because for one, I’m so grateful that I’m able to tell my story looking back, that I’m able to share the recovery that I have had, that I’m able to instill some hope in people who may not have hope, that I’m able to hopefully improve their quality of lives through the work that I do as their attorney, and through the work that my Law Firm does as well. And if I know that there are crashes that have been prevented through the work that I’ve done, that to me is probably more rewarding than anything else.

Sandy: Steven Benvenisti, personal injury attorney, Advocate Against Drunk Driving and for people with brain injuries, you do incredible work, your story inspired me 15 years ago and will inspire our audience today. Thank you so much for what you’re doing and thank you so much for being on the show today.

Steven: Sandy, thank you so much, and thank you for all that you do as well.