Name: Sri Sanjana Ledalla
From: Bentonville, ARKANSAS
Votes: 0
“All
I Heard Was a Crash”
One
Wednesday evening, I was at my dance class. My phone started to ring
continuously; I picked it up to see it was my younger brother calling
from my dad’s phone. He told me my mom had an accident. “What? Is
she okay? How did it happen?” I panicked. He told me my mom was
fine with a mix of fear and relief in his voice, “the car doesn’t
look too good, though,” he explained.
Though
I felt somewhat relieved, I could not stop thinking about what might
have happened and if my mom was really okay. My dad called me
outside, and I rushed to the car. My mom was sitting in the front
seat, looking completely shocked. I asked if she was hurt anywhere.
She told me her arm started to hurt and her face was twitching
uncontrollably immediately after the crash. I feared that it might be
a stroke, but she assured me that facial spasm lasted only for a few
seconds. “Mom, if you’re not too tired, do you mind explaining
what exactly happened?” She told us that she was driving down our
neighborhood road and in the road perpendicular to hers a car was
driving in the left lane, the wrong lane for an approaching car.
Suddenly she heard a loud crash and realized the car was spinning.
Involuntarily, she slowly started to press the brake and the car
stopped. A teenage girl stepped outside of the car in shock, and told
my mom she would call her father. My mom called the police to examine
the scene; after hearing her description, the police declared that
the teenager was most likely not paying attention or was on her
phone.
“All
I heard was a crash,” she concluded, “then the car started to
spin.” I visualized the scene and wondered what would have happened
if the car struck the driver’s door or another car was approaching
my mom. These thoughts simply scared me, and I realized how important
it was to be fully aware of your surroundings while driving. My mom
had literally escaped the clutches of death; the impact of the other
car was about a foot away from the driver’s door. Every person that
owns a car has a family. That family is waiting for him or her to
return with a happy smile like usual. However, when a precious life
is taken away, who is to blame? Is it the unaware driver or his or
her faulty preparation for driving? The importance of driver
education prevents the number of deaths in driving. By emphasizing
the importance of paying attention while driving and defensive
driving techniques, the roads will become safer.
It
is very important to know the following rules while driving. Keeping
away all distractions is the most important rule of driving. Next,
the driver must ensure the safety of himself or herself and his or
her passengers. These simple rules save many lives from the
instantaneous and dangerous damage of the roads.
