In a Blink of an Eye

Christina Beatty

In a Blink of An Eye

There are moments in time where everything stands still, as though you were in a picture frame. One more second does not seem imaginable and the past second is too far away to grasp. When people describe moments that time felt frozen, I thought they were being dramatic, that was until I got in my first car accident. It was the day after I got my license. I wanted to be a good sister and I drove my brother to get coffee. It all went smooth until it did not. I went too early and crashed into a silver car at a green light. It lasted only a second, but I swear it felt like years went by. I could not move from the seat.

It does not feel real until it happens to you. When you see an accident unfold on a screen or even the news, the sense of security is wrapped around you by just an inch of glass. The small screen telling you these horrors seem so fictional until you are on the road and about to be hit. Then the terror fills you and words cannot express how the air gets out of your chest. How your eyes widen as your brain racks what is about to happen. You are in danger. A few months before, when I was a simple permit driver, new and excited to be on the road. I was told many harrowing and destructive stories through the television. Again, the sense of security still held me tight. I wish that I held this information closer and thought about it as I drove down roads. That I am responsible behind the wheel and if I messed up there would be serious consequences; that a car accident could happen to anyone. I wish I remembered the statistic that 34,000 people die because of driving. I forgot these words until it was too late.

I hear stories and experienced friends of friends telling me their car accident stories. Many of them were because a person was under the influence or texting. I assumed that because I would not be distracted or under the influence that I would be okay behind the wheel. This was entirely false judgment set on my account. After the silver car struck the passenger’s side, I was very relieved to see my brother was okay. But the thought struck with me that if it were an inch closer or if I were going a little faster my brother could have been hurt. That thought struck me so deep that I knew that I was lucky for a second chance to improve. And I did, with going slower and benign more observant. With these two steps lives can be saved, and every second I am trying to change my ways.