The Non-Hollywood Reality of Car Accidents

I was approximately eleven years old when my tía, or aunt, was driving me and my little sister home, just as she had done years before and has continued to do for years after. We had just reached the stop sign before our house. After running errands, I was ready to rest and cook dinner at home. I was going to be in the kitchen with a chopping board to help with the meal in less than a minute, or at least I was supposed to be.

All I can recall is that I had gotten a new purse, and the strap was digging into my shoulder, so I looked down to adjust it. Within that split second, I heard my tía scream and looked up at her, not noticing the fire truck red Corolla about to clip the passenger side of our front bumper.

At first, I thought she was joking about something, because the scream did not seem real. It was not loud or panicked. All the experience I had with car accidents up until then was from films and shows, which all depicted car accidents as swerving messes with long periods of cars flipping over and delayed fires starting in the engine. Courtesy of Hollywood, they were oftentimes followed by dramatic explosions. For this reason, when I first heard my tía scream, I thought she was playing, until I was jolted from side to side as the car absorbed the impact.

Although the accident was minor, it does not always feel as such when it is actually occurring. My tía could have easily panicked and veered into the telephone pole just feet away from us or into our house itself. Once we stopped, I did not know what to do. I just looked at my tía. “Are you girls alright,” she attentively asked. She was met with head nods and a quiet, confused “yes” from my sister and me. “It’s okay, we just got in a car accident.” My tía has always held strong in the belief that you must not panic in times of pressure and crisis, because losing self-control can worsen the situation.

The red Corolla was driven by our neighbor, who passed a stop sign. I do not know if her toddler daughter in the backseat was crying for a toy or if she looked down momentarily to adjust the radio, but nevertheless, she took her eyes off the road. The consequences were that she passed her stop sign, did not see us coming, and hit us, but luckily the only injury sustained was to the vehicles instead of our lives.

I reflected on how I did not see the Corolla either, because I was concerned about my bothersome purse strap. Had I seen the car coming towards us, I could have braced myself for the impending impact, instead of being shocked. I vowed that when I began driving, I would never take my eyes off the road. While car accidents may not always be as dramatic as what I have seen on TV, they are still dangerous. Furthermore, I learned that my tía reacted to the situation in the most ideal way she could, even if she was not the one at fault.

When I took my online driving courses in high school, I noticed the emphasis on not speeding and not engaging in drunk driving. While these lessons are vital, the importance of knowing how to react when we inevitably are behind the wheel in a car accident, whether slight or severe, is also essential. What was a minor fender bender in front of my house could have been a tragic story on the 5 o’clock news had my tía lost control of her emotions, instead of maintaining her composure. Driving courses often focus on preventing ourselves from being the ones responsible for an accident but seem to gloss over how to protect ourselves against the irresponsible driving of others and how to react if we suffer from it.

If driver’s education incorporates these lessons into curriculums, unnecessary deaths can be prevented. The key is being proactive and teaching before the experience occurs. It should also be stressed that drivers must always remain diligent, focusing all their attention on their surroundings, even as they are practicing safe driving. While I cannot control how other people behave, I can control how I react to their behavior and encourage my friends to do the same. I pledge to make the safest choice: to keep calm and do my best in the moment.