Distracted Drivers Lead to Many Deaths

It is a warm sunny afternoon. I am in the car with my mom on the way to pick up my siblings from school. We are driving on a road that we drive on every day, multiple times a day. My mom is good about keeping to the speed limit because she says this reminds me how she expects me to drive. As we come up the hill that we have driven my whole life, another car has failed to stop because they were texting and driving. Since this was on the crest of a hill, there was nowhere for us to go. You see, this road has no shoulder, drops off on all sides. That is one of the reasons that the speed limit is only 45 mph.

This other car has slammed into the back of a tiny red car that later I will find out belongs to a social worker who is on his way to make a house call. The car that had the distracted driver with his cell phone caused three cars to not be able to continue on their day. My mom blares her horn and hits her brakes, but it is no use. My head is racing just thinking how much this is going to hurt. The seconds feel like minutes. We crash into the back of this car. Airbags pop open and the sound is one I will never forget.

At this point in our lives, my mom is undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. This car accident sets her back and would lead to an emergency surgery in the next few weeks.

The next few minutes feel like a lifetime. My mom pulls the car into the library parking lot down the hill. She calls 911. The paramedics arrive before the highway patrol. The paramedics rush at my mom with no hair, a bloody nose, and crying. She tells them she is ok. Please check on the others. The driver who caused the accident says it was not his fault. The red car driver says he saw the man on his phone before he hit him.

Luckily, myself and the social worker are ok. The distracted driver tries to fake an injury and the paramedics and police do not believe him. He is issued a ticket for the accident. My mom has to go to the hospital and stays there until the next day. When going through chemotherapy, your body can not take things like it would if you are healthy. When my mom comes home, she is swollen and bruised. But she is alive. And so is everyone else. Our van is totaled. So are the other two cars.

Since this day, I have made sure I speak up to my friends and share our story. I think that anything that we need to send via text message can and should wait until we are not driving. I know that a lot of people think you can be able to send a quick response and it not be a big deal. However, I have seen many drivers swerve, almost hit others, and cause accidents because they could not wait. I believe that we should have better laws that prevent us from using them while we are driving. We should all make wise choices to help make our world safer. A driver education course should be required for all.

A good driver education course that I have participated in is called B.R.A.K.E.S. This free course is taught by former race car drivers to anyone 15 to 21 years old. This course started after founder, Doug Herbert’s, two teenage sons were killed from distracted driving in 2008. It teaches young drivers to be confident and aware behind the wheel. Some of these skills are how to turn quickly, stop rapidly when needed, what to do if your tires go off the road, and how it feels to someone who drives while intoxicated. I believe a course like this should be required for all drivers. It helped me know what to do if my tires go off the road. I was able to drive a car in a safe area while the tires went off road. The instructor helped us know what to do. I was shown how even a few seconds of distraction can lead to disaster. Educational courses like this one should be offered all over the country to help young drivers be prepared behind the wheel and to prevent more motor vehicle deaths.

My parents have Life360 on my devices and monitor how my friends and I drive. We have an agreement in my house: no phone while driving, no speeding, or distracted driving. If I do speed, I owe $1 for every mile per hour I go over. This helps keep me and my friends safe. This also works well to keep all of us mindful of our speed. When you are young, every dollar counts. I do not want to waste any because I was being careless with my life and others.

If you think texting is so important, do not drive. Be a passenger. I have friends that are not safe drivers. I will not ride with them. They can ride with me. This way I know they are safe. I believe that it takes a village to make sure everyone is safe. I enjoy being a part of ours.

Our lives and those around us are more important than sending that emoji or yes answer while driving. My family was lucky this day. It could have been much worse. I am here and alive to talk about this because my mom was not distracted driving and made the best choice for us at the time. If she was distracted, I do not know if we would be alive. Remember your life and the drivers around you are important. Taking driver education courses do help. Everyone should want to do their part in keeping other drivers safe. We all have to work together for things to be better. We have to all stop using our phones while driving. Even one person texting and driving can hurt or even kill someone. We all have people who love them. Your text message can wait. Your life is not worth an emoji.