Name: Liza Rackley
From: McMurray, PA
Votes: 0
Besides most people that consider
Valentine’s Day to be a loving event of celebration, I consider the
holiday to be much more ironic. It started in 2019, when I was
with four of my best friends, riding in the car to a friend’s house
only about twenty minutes away from our homes. On the way, I
let my guard down, seventeen days post-drivers ed
completion, and rounded an unforgiving sharp turn without awareness,
just thirty seconds away from our destination. My precious baby
was wrapped around a tree within the gasp of a breath. After what
seemed like a millisecond, but happened to be over a minute later, I
woke up to a jab in the chin from my passenger.
The
smell of burnt rubber and ache of airbag contact stung all five of
us. Underneath the panic and shock, I heard a distinct
unfamiliar voice alerting me that help was on the way. I was
distracted by assisting my friend, who had been in a state of terror,
to the edge of the road. Before I had time to process any of the
recent events, my friends traveling behind us as well as five police
cars arrived at the turn. The serious complications flooded
into my brain at the sight of sirens and the tingle I left all
over.
The
next day, I visited the junkyard of what remained to my car.
The first door I opened contained a deflated airbag smeared with that
same bright pink lipstick I remember being so excited to apply the
night before. Everything had been okay, but the potential of
the situation’s danger detached me from the holiday forever.
In fact, even the clicking of a seatbelt, reminds me of how lucky we
were and how affected I became. But I do not want to leave it up to
luck, because safe driving is a preventative solution to a fatal
crisis.
The
stories that you hear are true. The “that was the last time I saw
him,” or “I can’t believe she walked out the door and she died
furious with me,” do exist. As humans, we like to forget about
these scary realizations until they become reality. And then, it all
settles in that they were not just “unlucky,” but they were
unsafe.
As
a way to thank my parents, my sister, my friends, and anyone else
important to me, I vow to protect myself and other citizens on the
roads by focusing on the road and locking my attention to traffic.
The initiative for safe driving must be risen, as the fatalities due
to vehicle accidents have soared. But, ignoring the massive factors
of intoxication and texting, safe driving starts with your hands at
ten and two. This demonstrates the importance of quality driver’s
education. Think about it as a prevention, not as a high school
course or regulation. Speaking from experience, I know that with
more information, I could have better protected myself and others
from having learned drivers ed.
