Is it worth that one?

Beep. Beep. Beep. In just a second everything around me felt like it had come to a stop. I was sitting in the backseat of my sister’s car as we were going to school. My oldest sister was driving excited about her interview after school. My twin sister sitting in the passenger seat. And there I was sitting in the back seat of our small car with a broken leg. That morning there was a small rain and it was foggy. We had left for school and not even five minutes into our drive our car went to the right over the white line and hit a patch of gravel. My sister corrected this, then the car went over the striped yellow line. My sister corrected this again, and we went back over the white line, as she got upset about the fog and rain. She corrected the car one last time, but overcorrected, badly. We went through the lane of oncoming traffic, thank goodness no one was there, and we jumped a culvert, I closed my eyes listening to my twin sister yelling for help, and my older sister yelling back everything was going to be ok. Then after what seemed like forever our vehicle struck a tree and started spinning. The wet grass leaving it impossible for the brakes to work and the next thing I see is another tree right beside me that we had just hit. In pure fear and adrenaline, I pull myself out of the car, I was in a cast because of my broken ankle so I crawled across the yard. And I get away from the vehicle only stopping when I was out of the grass to look back and see my sister’s vehicle totaled and smashed against a tree. Then I take a look at myself, not only was I covered in mud from crawling but my sister broke off the middle console in her car and it had already started bruising on my forehead. Then my sisters both climb out of the driver side of the car because the passenger side, where my twin sister and I had been sitting, was smashed into the tree. Thank goodness we were wearing seatbelts. My twin sister had hit her head on her window and busted her hand open with glass when it hit the windshield. Then I start hearing the car beeping, seemingly getting louder with every beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Although the rain and fog did not help anything, what could we have done differently to prevent this accident?

Although that morning I had been in a vehicle accident, I am one of the lucky ones. Fortunately, I am here today to tell you this story, but unfortunately, this is not the case for everyone and I, for one, have seen this first hand. In 2017 I joined the Osage Fire Protection District. I have worked many more accidents that are the case of a distracted driver. It was just one text, one call, one Snapchat, or one selfie. Not doing just one of these, could have saved one life. It only takes a second of your eyes off the road to set your risks while driving so much higher. I have seen it, a teenager snap chatting while driving, a grandmother texting while driving, a sister getting a phone call while driving, and a friend wanting to take a selfie while driving. Why are these risks, risked? Each day in the United States at least 8 people are killed from distracted driving. 8 people are way too many, 1 is too many! Educating about the extreme risks of distracted driving should not stop until there are no more deaths caused by distracted driving. It’s worth the wait to not be distracted while driving. Buckle Up. Phone Down. Keep your eyes on the road. I am fortunate enough to be a lucky survivor of a vehicle accident. Are you going to drive distracted? Is it worth risking your life, risking everything for the one text, one call, one Snapchat, or one selfie?