Gigababy in Ontario

Cindy Smith lives in Bowmaville Ontario and works Monday to Friday in downtown Toronto. She’s a commuter, in her late twenties, married with one child. And If I told you she’s also a blogger, you might expect a personal diary full of home cooked recipes, pet anecdotes and pictures of her kid. But no, Gigababy has evolved her blogspot meme into something Canadian society desperately needs, and something thousands of readers have come to depend on for a different kind of comfort.

Gigababy’s Web Creed Education for the Driving Masses is not like other traffic blogs, and that’s because this is primarily a traffic event blog (there is no such word as accident in Cindy’s vocabulary). Gigababy’s Web Creed creates interactive news media that’s focused on one subject – car crashes.

Every single day, even on Christmas and New Years Eve, Gigababy reposts local news media on the worst traffic incidents across Canada. If two people are killed on a highway in Quebec, you can expect to find a newspaper report (usually from the area) with all the details on the subject reposted on Gigababy’s Web Creed the next day.

Why does Cindy do this? Because someone has to do this. Gigababy gets almost dozens of comments a day from people that need to grieve and write something somewhere to clear their minds before they can go on with their lives. The comment box is where the action is; sometimes the relatives of the victims and the friends of the accused get emotional, at each other – then Cindy locks up the comment box and everyone has to move on.  There are no advertisements on the website, except to raise awareness for charities.

Billy Mintz, the Corporate Social Responsibility expert storyteller behind ARC Artists Raising Consciousness put Cindy Smith on camera for his Message in a Bottle video series that focuses on the dissemination of the responsible drinking message. These two experts met on Sat December 6th 2008 at Cindy’s parent’s house in Toronto – that’s Cindy’s mom directing the shooting in the background. Gigababy has a lot to say about how Canadians legislate new laws, prosecute offenders and mourn fatalities. She writes everday as an advocate of change – and she’s finally starting to get some real attention.

How did Gigababy get started?

Years ago, and for reasons only she knows, Mrs. Smith internalized the sad story of David Glenn Virgoe of Innisfil, Ontario, a driver for Wilburn Archer Trucking who swerved to avoid a street racer and flipped his tractor trailer at the side of Highway 400 near Bradford, Ontario, on June 18, 2007. Although an air ambulance was called to the scene, Mr. Virgoe, 48, died before he could be transported to hospital. But it was his quick selfless reaction, for which Mr. Virgoe was hailed as a hero by witnesses and Ontario police, who said his actions saved the lives of countless others that truly inspired Cindy.  She paralleled her own father’s career as a truck driver and his stories of highway driving and she took action in the form of a blog.

Three men were arrested for dangerous driving resulting in death. Mr. Virgoe left behind a wife Debbie, and three children and five grandchildren – and Gigababy’s Web Creed was born. Today and everyday Cindy Smith writes Gigababy to make Canadian roads safer.