My Auto Accident: Being Hit by a Teen Texter

A few years ago, I was in a really bad car crash that still affects my family four years later. It was near the end of the Covid era, and my family went to go get ice cream with my grandma. We got our ice cream and started driving home when all of a sudden I heard my mom yell, “Look out!” right before a teenager, who was texting and driving, ran a red light and t-boned our car.

It was her third accident while texting and driving. I remember everything going relatively dark because the airbags covered the windows. I did a quick self-check to make sure that nothing was severely injured, and I felt fine. I stumbled out of the car, and we all just sat there trying to comprehend what just happened. Our car had ended up turning 180 degrees and was about 2 lanes over. I remember sitting on the curb of the road finishing my ice cream cone because I somehow kept holding and didn’t know what to do. Everyone else’s ice cream went everywhere which caused a lot of fear because my dad’s cherry sundae got everywhere, and it looked like blood.

After the police and other first responders got there everything calmed down. A random ice cream food truck gave us free ice cream because we lost ours and another local restaurant helped make sure we were ok. By the end my grandma ended up severely hurting her foot, my brother was right where the car hit and had cuts to his head, my dad hurt his shoulder, and we all had bruises everywhere from the seatbelts and the airbags. Luckily no one was gravely injured, but my dad is still having shoulder mobility problems years later. God really provided for us by keeping us safe and giving us great first responders and some random people that helped us. For the next few years every time I thought that it was in the past and everything was fine, I heard that there’s a court case or my dad is still having problems. The results of the accident have lasted years longer than what I was expecting it to, but it’s always a good reminder to myself and the people around me to never text and drive because you never know what might happen.

Teaching young people how to drive is very important because they can be some of the most dangerous drivers. They don’t have the knowledge or experience yet to know what to do in the different driving scenarios that can happen. They also don’t have the muscle memory or reaction time to react to something in time. Drivers ed helps teach them these things and provides a safe way for them to learn how to drive. It gives them a basis for learning and gaining experience.

There are a few really easy steps to prevent deaths and injuries. The easiest way would be to wear seatbelts. I don’t understand why people don’t because it’s such an easy way to prevent unnecessary injuries in case something bad happens. Another easy way would be to have people stay off their phones. Texting and driving is dangerous because it distracts the driver from watching their surroundings as my family has learned first hand. They can miss crucial information that could help them in case of an accident or a driver on their phone. A lot of this just comes down to the person taking all the extra little steps to stay safe. Most people do these things because they don’t think an accident will happen to them. They have no way of controlling what goes on around them, but they can control how they react which can be hindered if they are distracted.

Because of our story, I always try to actively drive in a safe way. I never use my phone while I’m driving, and I rarely ever speed. I do everything I can to keep other drivers and myself out of harm’s way. One step I’m already taking is making sure my friends also drive safely. Whenever they talk about how fast they’ve gone or if they text me while driving, I’ll basically make fun of them and tell them how dangerous it is. One of my friends has been hit by an irresponsible driver, and I’ve told them my story. Because of all this, a lot of the people I know drive safely because they realized that it doesn’t matter how safe you drive there is always a chance of getting in an accident. When my friends and I are driving to the same place in separate cars, I always point out that we got there at the same time when I wasn’t speeding and they were.

While I wish we were never in that accident, it has encouraged our family to be the safest drivers we can. We know firsthand just how dangerous being distracted or texting can be, and I will continue to encourage others to be safe drivers too.