The Importance of Playlists

Nothing screams “teenage dream” more than overwhelming your ear drums with the sound vibrations of Miley Cyrus’s hit song “Party in the U.S.A, ” going 45 mph in a school zone, and giving a subpar effort to sing in tune in a way that is sustainable for my untrained vocal chords. As a legal adult, I have the right to make my own decisions! I can decide exactly what song I can hinder my hearing with in my white 2015 Toyota Rav4 without my slightly older cousin scolding my music taste. So, of course, I decided to queue up a bunch of songs at a red light: We Found Love by Rihanna, Temperature by Song by Sean Paul, Boom, Gangnam Sty– I was interrupted by the obnoxious orchestra of honking from the impatient drivers behind me; almost as if they had somewhere to be!

At that moment, I decided I would continue to queue up my summer jams as my right foot eased into the accelerator. Spotify continuously tried to convince me to go into car mode, but I despise the aesthetic of that UI; the font size is too large.

Not even five seconds later, my bestie sent me a picture on Snapchat. I unlocked my phone with face ID, try to navigate my home page with one eye on my mini screen and one eye on the road, and saw a picture of her cute cat. I was replied with an emoji and a quick selfie of me driving to tease her since she failed her road test.

I glanced at my rear view mirror and I saw blaring red and blue lights.

“How did I not hear the police car?” I thought to myself as Rihanna was telling me about the yellow diamonds in the light through my speakers.

Confused as to why I was partaking in a police chase, I pushed the emergency button, pulled over on the side of the road, and slid down my window. A man that looked old enough to be my father firmly demanded my license and registration. He took a look at my vertical license, and it looked like he had pieced two and two together.

“Do you know why I pulled you over, young lady?”

“Not really, sir.”

“So, you don’t remember passing a red light with pedestrians getting ready to cross?”

My heart sank completely. I remembered from my driver’s ed course that you can receive a hefty fine, and potentially jail time for this offense. The officer must have seen the color bleed from my face into my stomach because he showed me mercy by letting me go with a verbal warning.

The drive home was awkward despite there being nobody else in the car with me. There was no more music, both of my hands were on the wheel at the 9 and 3 o’clock positions instead of hanging my left arm out the window, and I made sure to pay attention to every single sign I passed. The only thing that was running through my mind is that I could have run over an innocent civilian; I was too young to become a criminal. When I got home, I kept to myself and dashed upstairs to my room with my head down. I opened Spotify to make a new playlist titled “Car Jammies” so I can simply put that playlist on shuffle right before I start driving, and I promised myself to always toggle car mode. I went into my phone settings so I can toggle the option that instantly responds with “I’m driving now – I’ll respond to you later!” to my incoming texts.

I made a promise to myself that next time I hit the road, I made sure to stay within the speed limit, not to bother myself with reckless drivers, keep both hands on the wheel, and most importantly, not even think about touching my phone.

Although only a few months have passed since this incident, yet I deem myself as lucky. It keeps me up at night about how different my life could have turned out if things truly went south. I continue to keep my self-promise for my own safety and to those around me. I began to preach to those around me to be cautious while on the road. As a young human being, despite being a legal adult, there are so many mistakes I already make on a daily basis; it is inevitable! However, I will not let reckless driving be a mistake once again.