Name: Maya Grace Noonan
From: Murray, KY
Votes: 0
November
17, 2019
Oh
No Omar
Like
any other day after school, I walked back to my car with my
boyfriend. We would stand there and talk until the parking lot
cleared out, avoiding all the other high school drivers. After our
usual fifteen minute conversation, I announced I was going to get my
Polar Pop, a 42 ounce soda I would get every day to satisfy my
caffeine addiction. My boyfriend asked if he could join me and, of
course, I could not say no. We hopped in my car and drove the short 2
minute drive to the nearest Circle K. We waited at a light and
noticed the driver in front of us was on his phone. He neglected to
see the light change from red to green and I eventually had to honk
my horn at him to go. He quickly sped up and drove way too fast into
the gas station parking lot. There he pulled into a pump. I then
pulled forward to go into a parking space when he began reversing
from the pump into my car. As my boyfriend yelled a string of curse
words, I sat there in silence and slowly tried to understand what had
happened. I, the near perfect driver of my friends, had gotten into
an accident. Yet it was not my fault. It was due to a gentleman by
the name of Omar. I had done nothing wrong but do to his own
distractions, an accident occurred. To add to the chaos, I did not
have my phone so I was unable to contact my parents or the
authorities. Omar used my age and cluelessness to his advantage and
gave me limited information about himself before driving off. And
then I sat in the parking lot and cried. My boyfriend reminded me
that it was not my fault and the accident was not that bad. He was
right. We both sat in perfect health and the Jeep only had a small
dent in it. We had been lucky. Many are not as fortunate and may end
up in a major accident rather than a minor one. Due to distractions,
Omar was not as present on the road as he should be. This is a common
occurrence in young people. Cell phones have become an increasing
distraction in driving. They are responsible for a large portion of
accidents. While there is a lot of material available for people to
read and study, very few take the time to educate themselves on safe
and distraction less driving. It is important that driver
education is stressed. The more people that are aware of the problem,
there is a more conscious effort to stop it. Phones can easily be put
on silent or given to a passenger. A passenger can be equally
responsible for distractions. An educated passenger is just as
important as an educated driver. The reduction of distractions on the
road can reduce the amounts of death due to driving or gas station
accidents.
