Red Light, Green Light

One second. One second is all it takes for your whole world to change. Nobody really understands the meaning behind a second because we never think about it. We just go on with our lives, day by day, not ever thinking about the possibility of something altering our course. Yet, I strictly remember the moment that made me afraid of cars for three months. I was twelve. It was a hot summer day when my friend who was seventeen drove my sister and I around for the day. We went to my dance studio to practice, and after that we decided to go to Dunkin Donuts to get our favorite drink, strawberry coladas. As we were making our way home, we were stopped at a light on the busiest street in the area. I looked over my shoulder to complain about how long the light was taking, when my friend asked if the light was green since cars were starting to slowly move. I quickly looked at the light, said that it was green, and CRASH! Next thing I knew, the whipped cream from my strawberry colada was all over the place, I heard my sister in the back screaming and crying, and I saw the car in front of us smashed into our car. I was terrified of what I had done. I swear I thought the light was green and cars were moving, but I guess they were just pulling up closer. My heart dropped to the ground, and I started to cry, however, my friend tried to reassure us that everything would be okay. A woman from the car behind us saw what happened, and went up to our car to see if we needed help, but ultimately, the car we hit pulled into a nearby parking lot and we followed them. This was a minor accident, but my friend has a tiny car so a lot more damage was done to her car than the one we hit. The hood of the car was demolished, but luckily, the other car only had a slight dent in the rear end. My friend called her parents right away to come down to figure everything out, and as she and the lady were talking outside, all my sister and I wanted to do was to go home. I had scratches over my body, and had to clean up the whipped cream while my sister continued to cry. I couldn’t even function. This was all my fault and I knew it, and I wished at that moment that I had the power to go back in time. If I had just looked more clearly, I could have prevented this accident. In the blink of an eye, everything changed. The next few days, I layed low, staying at home, but I kind of built up this fear that all cars were dangerous. I overheard my friend’s mom saying, “You are driving a death machine. At any second, you could die”. It sounds silly, but I did not want to be in a car. Every chance I got, I would make up excuses because I didn’t want anyone to know that I had a fear of being in another car accident. Ironically, I somehow made it two weeks without getting into a car. The first time I did, I cried and was so anxious that I would crouch, plug my ears, close my eyes, and hold my breath so that I would save myself if we did get into an accident. And this continued on, for a while, but I didn’t care, because if I was going to let myself be in a car, I wanted to feel safe. My experience made me aware of how common car accidents actually are. Almost every person I know has either been in one or knew of someone that has, and that shouldn’t be the case. Everyone needs to pay more attention to their surroundings. Accidents could be prevented if people weren’t distracted, and driver’s education should be required to get a license. Luckily, in my case, nobody died, but in many accidents, the driver being distracted costs a life. The driver should not be on their phone or intoxicated by any means, plus the passengers shouldn’t be acting crazy where the driver has to be concerned about them. Driver’s education is crucial because it could save a life. Young drivers need to be taught the dangers of driving, so less deaths are prevented.