When Andrew Knight, of Columbia, died in a car accident on Route 175 and Dobbin Road in 2005, his parents, Karen and Tom Knight, didn't find out until a half-day later.
Police did not notify Andrew's parents because Andrew's wife, who was also in the accident and was at the hospital in shock trauma, was listed as his next of kin. It wasn't until the next day, Karen Knight said, that she and her husband, who live in Ellicott City, received a voice mail message from their daughter-in-law's brother, whom they had only met once or twice, telling them Andrew was dead.
"To find out that way, then to have to verify it … it was just awful," Knight said. "We weren't notified until almost 12 hours after my son was lying on the side of the road dead."
Now, under a new Motor Vehicle Association program — championed by Karen Knight's cousin, state Del. Gail Bates of West Friendship — Maryland drivers will be able select up to three emergency contacts that police can access through their electronic driving records in case of a serious or fatal accident.
At the launch event held at MVA headquarters in Glen Burnie Monday, June 13, Knight was the first person to enter her emergency contacts into the registry.
"It's very, very easy to do," she said.
Residents who hold either a Maryland driver's license or identification card can enter their emergency contact online by going to the MVA website, clicking on more under "Online Transactions," selecting "Account Management" and "Emergency Contacts Management." Emergency contacts can also be provided at the kiosk of any MVA location.
Until this week, all police could get from the driver's license is an address, MVA spokesman Buel Young explained. Now, police can use to the license to access the individual's driving record — like they would if they were issuing a citation — and find the emergency contact information.
In 2007, Young said the MVA created an emergency contact card that people could download, print out and carry with their license. The new system, he explained, is an update from "carrying around a piece of paper in your wallet."
Only police will have access to the emergency contact information.
Personal experience
In addition to her cousin's experience, Bates said the idea was inspired by another personal experience.
About 10 years ago, she said, her mother-in-law died in a car accident. When police went to her mother-in-law's home to try to notify someone, they found no one because she lived alone. So they tried neighbors, looking for someone who could put them in contact with the family, and eventually found Bates' husband David Bates.
"In our situation, it actually worked out that David got the notification," Bates said. "It was a total fluke. The only reason is that she was living at the house up the hill from us."
In 2006, Bates and her colleague, then-state Sen. Sandy Schrader, introduced legislation to create an emergency contact program. It failed because the MVA's computer system did not have the capacity to support it.
So when Bates found out the MVA was updating its system, she put language in the 2010 state budget requiring them to include this program.
"They had promised me they were going to do it," she said. "I just wanted to make sure."
Though "there's no good way to find out" a loved one has been injured or killed in an accident, Bates said, police are trained to be compassionate and understanding and can explain to families what action they need to take.
"As soon as family members can be notified, it makes it easier for them," she said.
Both the Maryland State Police and the Maryland Hospital Association support the program and are urging residents to take advantage of it.
"Especially in an emergency situation, getting information quickly can be critical," Jim Reiter, the hospital association's senior vice president of communications, said in a statement. "Maryland hospitals support this simple method to ensure that Marylanders' contact information is easily and quickly accessible."
Knight said she hopes the system prevents other families from having to go what she and her husband experienced.
"It just never, ever occurred to me that we wouldn't have been notified," she said.