Halloween Horror on the Highway

As a teen who has had the experience of surviving a major car accident, which was caused by another driver’s unsafe choices, my opinion on safe driving habits is very strong. Many teens glamorize being able to hold the steering wheel with one hand, and their cell phone in the other. They brag about their close calls with texting and driving because they think it is “funny” or “exciting”. Hearing these kinds of conversations in the hallways of my school, or reading similar comments online, is extremely upsetting as well as disappointing.

Last October, on Halloween weekend, my step sister and I made plans to meet up with our group of friends at Schuster’s farm for a haunted forest. Still a new driver, and only 16 at the time, my biggest concern that evening was the possibility of a deer jumping out in front of me. The last thing I anticipated was another driving hitting us.

The 19-year-old driver was texting on their phone, and failed to stop at the stop sign. Both of us were going about 55-60 mph at the time that they hit my vehicle on the rear passenger side. The initial collision pushed my car through the middle of the intersection and spun it around, but the motion did not end there. There was a second collision, which came when the trunk my car collided with a large oncoming pick-up truck, that was also going 55-60 mph, when my car had spun around. This caused us to flip and roll into the ditch on the side of the highway, landing right side up before its motion came to an end. Afraid, confused, and dizzy, I panicked immediately after the car stopped and frantically asked my step sister questions such as “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Is your head okay? Are you bleeding? Can you move?” and then I asked if she could open her door. When she told me that her door would not open I opened mine as quickly as possible, and she climbed over the center to get out on the drivers’ side of the vehicle. We walked away from the car and stood on the grass, in case there was any fuel leaking that could catch on fire, and waited for emergency responders.

This experience took a great toll on my mental health. Only a few months after the accident I was diagnosed with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and started trauma treatment in therapy. I had to learn how to cope with what had happened, and accept that “bad things happen to good people”. My artwork played a big role in my trauma treatment. I dedicated my AP Art portfolio to advocating for safe driving through my artwork by showing viewers what happened, how it happened, the effect it has on my life now, and how I am dealing with it.

My pieces have been displayed in the same hallways that students have conversations about their unsafe driving habits, with hopes that they will instill a sense of fear in these students. I want my art to catch the attention of people and spark a voice in their heads that makes them think “THIS is what can happen just by answering a simple snapchat?” “Is this something I want to happen to me?” “Is texting and driving really worth risking my life and the lives of others around me?”.

This accident taught me how unfair the world can be. No matter how good of a person you are, bad things can still happen to you. This is because of the people around us, and the decisions that they make. Anyone holds the power to bring harm to another person without even thinking about it. Whether it be physically or psychologically, the choices we make can and will affect the lives of others who are around us in many different ways. Being so young and having to experience a trauma like this held me back from living my life for many months. I was afraid to leave the house, afraid to be on the road at night, and afraid to even sit in the driver’s seat of a car again, even though the accident was not my fault. But I chose to overcome it through my art. And I made a promise to myself that I will never use my phone while driving, because it’s simply not worth the risk of putting myself or someone else in danger.

Answering a text message or using social media should never be more important than the lives of not only you and your passengers, but the other people who are on the road with you. The people who have friends and family waiting for them at home, whose lives are taken too soon by careless drivers that take their eyes off of the road to answer a text. It is time for not just teens but adults as well to step up and start making better choices when they get behind the wheel.

So please, do not text and drive.