Most people do not think about the harm that their everyday accessories can inflict in the case of an accident. Now, TikTokers are working to raise awareness for what exactly can go wrong while wearing certain trendy items.
Drivers have already warned viewers about claw clips that have reportedly lodged themselves into the heads of drivers involved in collisions. Now, a small business owner is sounding alarms that sunglasses can present an issue if they are worn during even a small car accident. Hannah Oliver (@hannahnoliver) says she founded her shatter-resistant sunglass company after losing one of her eyes in a car accident.
“So you want to know how my sunglasses shattered,” she says in the video. “Let me just tell you, you probably do this all the time. I was driving along and of course, I had my sunglasses on. This guy pulled out in front of me and slammed on the brakes. I slammed on [the] brakes but did not react fast enough, and I hit him from behind. When that happened, my airbag came out, hit my precious designer sunglasses and they shattered into a million pieces.”
In her caption, she says she was only driving 25 mph when she got into the accident that led to her eye being compromised.
“I just remember when I got back into consciousness, looking up at my rearview mirror, this whole part of my eyelid was hanging over,” she says. “My bottom eyelid, as you can see, is pretty much non-existent. My eye was gone. It deflated on impact. My optic nerve was severed and my retina was detached. What I didn’t understand at the time was the EMT was like, ‘Yeah, they might be able to save your eye but we’re not 100% sure.’ Now when I look at the photos, my eye literally was shredded. It looked like it had gone through the garbage disposal. All of the glass had shredded my eye into pieces.”
Oliver says this is why she founded her own shatter-resistant sunglass company and created her TikTok account to inform viewers that their favorite glass, nylon, or even plastic lens shades can become a danger in a car accident.
“What’s even more nuts—being a business owner now and selling shatter-resistant sunglasses—is the fact that these sunglass manufacturers could produce shatter-resistant lenses for literally pennies, but they choose not to,” she says.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Oliver via email regarding the video.
Multiple viewers shared that they added sunglasses to the list of items not to wear while driving to avoid additional injuries in a collision, or replacing their existing sunglasses altogether.
“No claw clips , no sun glasses got it,” one commenter wrote.
“Oh my goodness. I live in my sunglasses and never knew this or thought of this!” another said. “I’ll be checking yours out asap.”
“I never do this, and it’s all thanks to you that I don’t!” a further user added. “Keep spreading the message!”
@hannahnoliver Replying to @Mt07 It is crazy to think that the most expensive sunglasses can be the most dangerous. When I was only driving 25 mph, and got in a minor car accident, those sunglasses changed my whole life. I now hope that my story can change the way people look at sunglasses. We should be able to have stylish fun sunglasses that also protect our eyes. #oneeye #listen #lessonlearned #advice #caraccident #sunglasses #becareful #protectyourself #protect #impacted #drivingtips #fyp #foryou #sunglasses #sunglass ♬ original sound – Hannah Oliver
Others shared that they had either seen another passenger experience something similar or had been through an accident while wearing glasses themselves, with varying degrees of damage.
“I was stopped on the interstate behind other stopped cars and I was rear ended by someone going over 70mph,” one commented. “My glasses flew off and were on my back floorboard.”
“Was going on a school field trip on the bus in 3rd grade and the driver had to hit the brakes on a bridge and the kid next to me hit his face on the front seat and broke his glasses,” another commenter wrote. “Luckily not hurt.”
“I got in a car accident and mine just flew off my face,” a further user shared.
