For some, the impacts of a serious crash linger long after the incident is a distant memory, writes Shane Gilchrist.
Casey Coombes is sitting in her Green Island lounge, flicking through a photo album that could be described as a travelogue with a difference.
There are hundreds of images here, going back 13 years, almost to the day the car in which she was a passenger careered off Eglinton Rd, Dunedin, and hit a tree.
The series of photos, some quite graphic, reveal not only the extent of Casey's injuries, but also the long road to recovery.
There are many photos of Casey in Dunedin Hospital, attached to all sorts of tubes, surrounded by medical professionals.
Others show various significant breakthroughs: ''That's me walking'', she exclaims, pointing to a shot of her at the Isis head injury unit at Wakari Hospital, where she spent much of 2003.
Casey was 21 when she jumped into the car driven by a woman with whom she'd been drinking into the early hours of August 11, 2002. She's now 34. She doesn't know where the time has gone.
''I was in an induced coma for nine and a half weeks. When I came out of it, I wondered what the hell was going on. Mum was telling me I was all right, but I couldn't remember.
''I broke my face, but I think they did a pretty good job of putting it back. My jaw was crushed and my skull was fractured.''
Less visible, but more significant, was the brain injury she suffered.
''I had to learn everything again: breathing, walking, talking, getting myself dressed, brushing my teeth, going to the toilet ... everything.
''I'm real proud of how far I've come,'' Casey says, a glint in her eye hinting at the same fighting spirit that prompted her to address a 2010 meeting held at the Dunedin Town Hall to protest against proposed cuts to neurosurgery at Dunedin Hospital.
Casey was working as a shop assistant before her accident. It was another three years before she got another job, working at a South Dunedin butchery. Now, she does volunteer work at Green Island School, helping in the library.
''I want people to realise how good I am. I need a job. I just need someone to throw me a bone and give me a chance.
''I don't want to be written off. I've already been written off in a car.''
Though she notes some people she had considered friends are no longer part of her life, she prefers to consider the positives, such as the support shown by her mother, Sandra, who now lives in Australia, and her partner, Steve.
''We've been together 10 or 11 years. He's been amazing.
''And my mum was there all day, every day. She's been the greatest mum ever. You know how everyone says they have the best mum? Well, no one beats mine.
''She must have a lot of energy, because my brother [who was a passenger in a car accident in 1999] also has a brain injury.
''What's she been through - both her kids having car crashes - and she still manages to keep it together ...''
