Crashes: It Is Not Just an Accident

It was over this past summer that I truly had my first experience with the effects and severity of crashes. I was doing the laundry; waiting for my sister to come home with the cat food she was supposed to buy. However, as I was folding some clothes I saw my sister come down the hall in tears: she had got into an accident on her way home. At the time I thought it was a joke. How could that have happened to her? She’s just joking with me. So instead of taking it seriously, I was in disbelief, asking her constantly if it was a joke.

When I finally realized she wasn’t joking I went to check out the damage done on her white, Ford Escape. This was her first actual crash on the road. The back passenger door was dented causing the window to not work properly; all of the airbags in the front were deployed. To me, the car itself didn’t look bad so I dismissed the seriousness of the accident. Furthermore, my sister only had a couple of big bruises. Inside the house, my sister was panicking: not knowing what to do and getting yelled at by my mom.

Finally, I asked her how the accident happened and where. Apparently, she was in the left turn lane, waiting to turn onto our road. After waiting until the three lanes she had to travel were clear; she started to turn her car and was just about to pass the right turn only lane into our dirt road. Out of nowhere a car comes and slams her car in the side with speed. According to my sister, the other person was a doordash driver who was speeding and paying attention to their phone. However, because my sister was making a left hand turn it was her fault in the end. Although the accident didn’t cause much damage to either car and was not put on my sister´s record, there were still long lasting health effects.

During the crash my sister had turned causing her to damage her back, her spine in specific. Throughout the months following, my sister would constantly complain about her back pain. Explaining how she couldn’t stand, sit or lay down without any pain. Her back pain was so severe she couldn’t even do her job, as a massage therapist: the persistent pain in her lower back which led to her quitting her job. When she went to the doctor and got an MRI, an imaging test, they told her it was caused by her tailbone moving out of place; bad genetics causing the space between her vertebrates to shrink. The doctor told her she was lucky that no further injuries were sustained, although the pain might always give her issues and only physical therapy would help.

According to USA Today, out of the 6,102,936 police reported car accidents in the United States 39,508 of them were fatal, resulting in death. Additionally, the number of accidents leading to death in the United States, increased by 16% from 2018 to 2022, a staggering number. One of the lucky ones is my sister. Of those accident fatalities she could have easily been one of them. If there is one thing I can take away from her crash it is that I should never go on my phone while driving and that being cautious is important. Her experience taught me, as well as her alot on how to be a better and safer driver. The biggest takeaway is to always have your eyes on the road and to look out for cars multiple times: you never know where they could randomly come speeding from.

Teens who didn’t go through a driver education course are responsible for 91% of teen driver crashes, states Safe Ride 4 KIds. Driver’s education is an important part of learning the rules of the road and how to operate a car. For me, going to driverś education classes laid the foundation for my driving. If I had never gone, I would have never been able to drive safely and smoothly. The most important part of driver´s training was the six car rides I went on: they helped me with turning which I was struggling majorly with and knowing when it was my right of way. Although I feel that more rides should have been required. Another thing that was an important takeaway in driver´s education was the awareness about train, truck and motorcycle crashes with cars. The videos shown on the topics made me aware of and cautious in order to avoid them.

I believe that the most important steps to help lower crash rates are to: make driver education free and make everyone take at least one crash stimulation course before getting a license. If driver education was free many more teens would be able to learn how to safely drive; the instructor could help point out the issues with their driving. Something so important should not merely be an option, but it should be mandatory. On the other hand, allowing people to experience what a deadly crash would be like would bring awareness of bad road habits and make drivers more cautious. These are the steps that need to be taken to better driving; lower crashes and crash fatalities.