The Impact of One Decision

One of Canada’s top Impaired Driving Prevention Presentations could be at your next Conference, safety meeting, stand down or event!!

“I saw you at our Regional Safety Conference and knew I just had to book you to speak to my staff. When you attended our safety meeting, you did not disappoint! I’ve only had great positive feedback from our staff! They loved you and we’ve never had staff stay that long afterwards to talk with a speaker before!” ~ Red Deer Catholic School Board

“By far the best presentation we have ever had a safety in-service meeting!” ~multiple employees – Red Deer Catholic School Board and various other companies…

Life is a sequence of one decisions, which ones will you make? It’s not only impaired driving, but every decision you make in your life that impacts someone else. Using her personal story of losing her Dad to an impaired driver while she was working as a police officer as an example, Amanda expertly shows students just how far one decision truly can reach….

Decisions…we make them everyday from the time we wake up in the morning until the time we go to bed at night. But how often do we stop to think about how our daily actions and decisions affect others?

In 2004, Amanda was working as police officer in Alberta, Canada. She was used to seeing the impact of other people’s decisions and the affect it had on their lives and the lives of others. But she never once thought that someone else’s decision would impact her life and many others lives in an unimaginable way.

Amanda’s life changed forever at 11:30 p.m. on October 24, 2004 when she was woken up by a knock at the door from fellow Officers. When she opened the door, her heart sank and her stomach tightened. There was only one reason why Officers showed up at 11:30 pm with two victim services personnel – something really bad had happened…

As the minutes passed, Amanda realized this was becoming a horrible real life nightmare. She was the one who was usually knocking on someone else’s door at that time of night with bad news, but now she found herself on the receiving end of that knock. Somehow, in a matter of minutes, she went from being a police officer to a victim of impaired driving. All because a 19 year old construction worker, who had too much to drink, stole a welding truck, headed out on a rural highway and lost control of the vehicle on the icy highway. His actions and decisions that day resulted in him hitting Amanda’s Dad’s small car head-on at the top of a hill at 5:30 a.m. The impaired driver lived, but Amanda’s father died (burned to death in the vehicle) at the scene. Amanda’s Dad was on his way to work in Alberta’s oilfield. He never made it to work that day and was never seen again. Using her own tragic personal story, Amanda expertly proves how one decision can truly change your life (and the life of several others) in an instant.

Her main messages are extremely powerful – “life is a sequence of one decisions, which ones will you make?”, “Every decision you make in your life impacts someone else”, “what are you willing to lose” and “you are only one decision away from changing your life forever”.

Amanda does not reveal until near the end that it was her Father that was killed that day, which makes this presentation even more unique, shocking and memorable.

This presentation is suitable for everyone from your front line employees right up to upper management. The full presentation length is approximately 1 hour to 75 minutes long, dependent upon the number of questions and how long it takes to run through the hands on scenario.

Each presentation will do the following for your employees/attendees:

Prove to attendees, through use of her real life story, how every decision you make in your life impacts someone else and often impacts people in more ways than you imagine. As Amanda includes her expertise from a 15 year policing career crossed with the experience of a victim of impaired driving, the impact of this presentation is enhanced for the audience

Leaves the audience with a lasting impact because Amanda does not make the impaired driver into a monster or place any blame on him. This allows the audience to relate to both sides and think “what if that was me?”

Provide attendees with proof that the excuses of “I’m only hurting myself, what does it matter” and “but this is the way I’ve always done it and nothing has ever happened” are never valid excuses and can lead to fatal consequences.

Provide employees/attendees with information and understanding on corporate liability (including corporate insurance liability) and allows attendees to realize how their actions and decisions and the actions and decisions of fellow employees can impact their company as a whole, fellow employees and the community.

Give attendees an understanding on what things can cause/influence them to make bad decisions and how to stop themselves from making wrong decisions. Includes providing them with the secret tool of how to make the right decisions at the right time, even when everything seems out of control

Give attendees an understanding of and knowledge on how being charged with a Federal Criminal Offence can affect future opportunities for them in life

Dispel the myth that you have to be over 0.08 BAC to be charged criminally under Canada’s Criminal Code.

Provides information on marijuana in the workplace including employer/employee relationship, medical marijuana in the workplace, the problem of “enabling” by covering up for others and the cost of driving high personally and to the company.

Provide information and understanding on how alcohol and drugs affect the body and the ability to make decisions, operate a vehicle or machinery or to do a task safely by using a hands on demonstration/simulation with Fatal Vision Alcohol Simulation Goggles and Marijuana Simulation Goggles. Information is also provided on the dangers of fentanyl and myths surrounding naloxone.

By providing an emotional description of the death notification she received that night, Amanda walks the attendees through the emotions felt and actions that take place when you receive a death notification from police when a loved one is killed and the shows the roller coaster of emotions that follows. Amanda does this by thoroughly describing that night the RCMP Officers arrived at her home and stated “Amanda, we know you’re a fellow Officer, so we’re going to get straight to the point. There was an accident, it happened this morning on highway 22 and your Dad died in the crash.” Amanda describes the numbness she felt, how she was in shock, how she was Daddy’s little girl and how even seeing her uniform in the closet made her angry. This part hits employees hard, especially when she states “how was it that I put my life on the everyday to protect the citizens of my area, yet my own Dad ends up being killed by an impaired driver just 4 hours north of me!”

Prove to attendees how you never really know how your decisions can impact others, how closely linked that impact can be and who you may share the highway with at any given time. Amanda describes how the impaired driver’s Mom worked for her Aunt (Dad’s sister) in a completely different town several hours away and how the two ladies were good friends. Not only did Amanda’s Aunt lose her brother that day, but a dedicated employee and her best friend. To this day, the two women do not talk. Amanda also drives home this point what she states “imagine what it would be like to see the person who killed your loved one walking around town with his family.”

Prove to and leave attendees with the message and understanding of how life is a sequence of one decisions. It’s not only impaired driving, it is every decision you make in your life, such as not using your PPE correctly or when needed, driving while distracted, texting and driving, bullying others, not wearing your seat belt, speeding, not wearing a helmet when on an ATV or bicycle and not believing in yourself or thinking you’re not worth it. Every decision you make in your life impacts someone else.

Through use of a moving slideshow tribute, attendees are left with just one question – What are you willing to lose?

Leave attendees with inspiration to always make smart decisions in life and be the one to stand up and make a difference.

This presentation has been presented to both large and small groups in companies such as Pembina Pipeline, Continental Pipeline, Independent Electric & Controls, Arc Resources, ConocoPhillips Canada, Skyway Canada, Opus Stewart Weir and many others.

Reviews from past clients:

“For the December Safety Meeting, we brought in Amanda Stuhl-Oling as a guest speaker. Her presentation on Impaired Driving Awareness asks the question “what are you willing to lose?” It was an excellent way to kick off the holiday season and remind each and every one of us that all those small decisions we make in a day can add up to large choices that can ultimately become other people’s realities. I wish Amanda well in her future as a presenter and safety speaker and thank her for sharing a very personal story of loss that she has wrapped up in a touching tribute to her Father that has the ability to remind us all of the impact of one decision” – Lana Pangracs, HSE Manager, Independent Electric & Controls

“You spoke at our safety meeting over 2 years ago and we still talk about your presentation and story today. You left a huge impact on us and really made us think. Thank-you!!” – Employee, Pembina Pipeline

“One of the best safety meeting presentations we have ever had!” – Employee, Opus Stewart Weir

“By far the best safety meeting presentation we have ever had! Really made me think and I will remember this for a long time.” – Employee, Opus Stewart Weir Engineering

“Thank you for the amazing presentation. I have received a large number of comments, and I know you have made such a positive impact on our group!” – Jim Aarts, SSER Advisor, Pembina Pipeline

“Wow, when you described how you miss the smell of crude oil from your Dad’s coveralls, it hit me hard because that could be my family. This makes me want to make better decisions in life.” – Employee, Pembina Pipeline

“That was the best and most impactful and inspiring presentation I have ever seen. Can’t wait to have you come to my workplace to speak to our employees!” – Safety Services Nova Scotia Conference Attendee

“I’ll admit that I was cynical when I first walked into your presentation at the International uLead Conference because I thought if you’ve seen one impaired driving prevention presentation, you’ve seen them all. But you proved me wrong within the first few minutes. I left so impacted and inspired that I knew we needed to hire you to speak!” – International uLead Conference Attendee

If you have any questions or would like to book this presentation, please go to the “Contact” tab at the top of the page to send an e-mail directly to Amanda Oling.