Faces

I used to see faces in cars. I think I learned to personify them because my family would name the cars we drove. It used to be sad – when you had to let a car go because it wouldn’t work anymore; when a car replaced a loved one. A vehicle inherited instead of bought. We name all the cars and talk to them like people.

I’ve seen a lot of cars come and go.

I remember:

Zoom Zoom – Silver Mazda – my dad’s car: Totalled

Emily – Infinity – my mom’s car: Broke down

Scarlett – Small Red Mazda – my grandfather’s car: Given away

Pettiquisha – Jeep Grand Cherokee – my dad’s car: Scratched

Abraham – Lincoln Aviator – my mom’s car: In pristine condition

The Swagwagon – Dodge Caravan – my grandmother’s car: Scarred

I was the one to come up with a name for the cars. My dad named the dodge caravan.

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I didn’t realize how expensive cars were until I started driving. The pipeline from Drivers Ed to getting my license cost around $1000. I wouldn’t have even been able to learn had my parents not been able to drive me to lessons and practice with me.

Learning to drive is a privilege. Honestly, the exclusivity of driving makes roads less safe.

It’s an issue that people have to pay an exuberant amount of money to learn and own a car. I think that that’s an issue because it forces people into the difficult situation of choosing between driving unsafely and getting where they need to go. Especially if public transportation is completely inaccessible too.

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The Van has scratches on the side door and front from when my grandma crashed it in the wall in her garage.

People always get upset about old people driving but how else are they supposed to get where they need to go? My grandma lived in Texas. My family lived in Washington. My aunt lived 20 minutes away from my grandma, but couldn’t always drive her. She probably didn’t like asking for help all the time either so she drove herself. She drove herself down the big hill by the plains and across the highways. She drove herself over the flat dry land and one day she drove into the garage wall.

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I think public transportation should be more accessible. That way people don’t have to choose between risking their lives and the lives of everyone around them and can just choose between driving or riding. I get that that’s a government issue that would probably take a lot of money and time but it’d save so many lives.

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In my drivers ed class they taught us to pull to the side of the road if we needed to use our phones. My brother took the same class as me but sometimes he’s still on his phone when he drives. I think it’s like being told something is bad but you see all of your friends doing it so you think you can do it too. I tell him to either get off his phone or give it to me.

I think everyone should learn how to drive through drivers ed – even if it doesn’t do much, hearing something once is better than not hearing it at all. Maybe if it was really drilled into us – not to drive distracted or under the influence – there’d be a lot less crashes.

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I always thought it was weird how a car could get hurt so easily. My grandma was fine that day she drove into her garage wall; the car got the worst of it. Almost like it was protecting her – doing it’s job I suppose.

When I was 12 I was in an accident with my dad. The light turned green, my dad let off the brake and on the gas, the car in front of us stopped suddenly. Everyone was fine, but Zoom Zoom got totalled.

I think my dad was tired, I was too when I got in my first accident as the driver.

I was parking at school and I hadn’t slept. I had been staying up late every night doing homework, and it was my job to drive my brother and neighbor to school.

I scratched up my classmate’s car and I cried because it was so embarrassing. No one was hurt but Pettiquisha and the other car needed a paint touch up.

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Knowing how easy it is for a car to get hurt makes me feel sick when I see a really damaged car.

I’ve seen the skeleton of a car before. My friend and I were stuck in bad traffic on a two way road that stretched for miles and miles, and I remember complaining about how the city’s probably doing construction. When we saw the accident we went silent.

Three cars. One flipped over, one in a ditch, one still on the road. All totaled.

The skeleton of a car – the one flipped over – it’s bones in front of us.

I didn’t want to imagine what happened to the people inside.

Cars kill. Cars protect. And we drove past and stayed silent, remembering how much power is behind a wheel.

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I’ve been driving for 2 years and I see cars so much differently. I see their brands and instead of faces when they drive or do something stupid. It’s easy to forget about the people inside, especially when you’re tired or shouldn’t be driving. But when we see a car’s face – it’s headlight-eyes and grill smile – we have to remember that it’s protecting someone equally human and equally at risk.