Name: Mia Jasmine Martinez
From: Spring Hill, Tennessee
Votes: 0
The Automobile’s Body
Count
By: Mia Martinez, Nashville
TN, Senior
My
face was hot with tears. My sleepover at my best friend’s house had
turned into a marathon of crying, of regret, of sadness. I was not
there; I did not see it but my life changed when in an instant. He
was pulled underneath the tire, dragged beneath the entire car, and
passed away.
He
was a sixteen year old boy with dreams of attending the University of
Tennessee at Knoxville. Suddenly, my school was having an assembly
to mourn his passing. How could such a bright light be snuffed out so
quickly and without warning? How could a sixteen year old boy have
been caught up in such a horrific accident? How could it have been
one of us?
You
never think that it could be you, or one of your friends, or even
your family. But one day, late on a Sunday night, you get a text that
Max is dead and there is a prayer circle at the football stadium in
an hour. He had become another statistic instead of the beautiful
human being that he was. To this day I still think to myself, it is
beyond terrifying how so many people are taken from us due to
recklessness and irresponsible driving. The reality is that the
numbers only grow with every passing year. I have never personally
experienced a car accident. I have never been the driver nor the
passenger, but I am extremely lucky. In recent statistical figures,
it is said that on average 90 people, in the United States alone, die
in car accidents every single day. Everyday someone loses a child, a
sister, a father, a friend, solely because of their own behaviour or
someone one else’s habits behind the wheel.
I
believe one of the most profound influences on my record of safety
was the mandatory driver’s checkpoint class for all new drivers. I
attended this class on a typical Tuesday afternoon after school, and
when I left, I assure you, the fear of God was inside me. The
pictures, the numbers, and the warning alone was enough to make a
grown man shiver with fear. How could so many kids have died from a
drunken mistake in the front seat? How could so many kids have killed
their friends because of their mistake?
Now
it is senior year and his class has graduated and gone. Each and
every one of them had to cope with the idea that they would never see
him again. We all did. But if there is one thing that his memory
continually reminds us is that we have to be safe, we have to be
sure, we have to make perfect decisions behind the wheel of a car. If
not, someone could pay the ultimate price.
