Hall Enjoys Being Behind The Wheel

Don't dwell on the past.

In July 1978, Robert David Hall (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's Dr Al Robbins) was in a terrible car accident. He was left with burns over 65 percent of his body, and the incident ultimately claimed both of his legs. However, Hall didn't let that stop him. Instead, he recovered and even got back behind the wheel early in 1979.

"I got a Volvo 240, which is a tank of a car," he told the Poughkeepsie Journal. "A friend of mine helped arrange for me to get this used Volvo sedan equipped with hand controls. And I remember being in the parking lot of a supermarket at a time when all of the shoppers were up close to the market. It was a big expanse of a parking lot. And I learned how to drive the car in about an hour."

After he got the hang of driving with hand controls, Hall returned to the scene of his accident. "I drove over the expanse of freeway where I had almost been killed," he shared. "I did that about 10 times that day. I've never had a problem driving since." In fact, the actor enjoys the freedom of driving over taking an airplane. "For me, a perfect vacation would be driving across the country," he said.

Hall compared using hand controls with other types of "adaptive technology" that the average person uses every day. "I walk on artificial legs, prosthetics. I use hand controls on my car. I wear glasses or contacts to see better. I up my computer fonts a little bit so I can see them," the actor explained. "So everybody - able-bodied, disabled, whatever - uses some sort of technology."

The original interview is from the Poughkeepsie Journal.

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