It only takes a minute.

For so many people, driving has become muscle memory. Your body knows what to do subconsciously, even if you aren’t fully attentive behind the wheel. Checking your mirrors, stopping at lights, following the speed limit, and following traffic laws. Even though your body may already know what to do, it only takes one minute and one mistake to change the life of yourself and someone else drastically.

In early December of 2021, I had planned a trip with a few friends. We had barely started college and had been driving for two to three years. One friend lived in a different city around eight hours away from us. We decided that the rest of us would visit her at university for a few days. My friend Chloe and I had booked a plane ticket out of a nearby city to fly most of the way rather than drive. All we had to do was go to the airport, but what seemed like such a routine drive turned sour in the blink of an eye.

The accident took place at a four-way intersection. We returned from the airport and took a left turn on a green arrow to get to the hotel we were spending the night at before our early morning flight. While turning, I noticed the driver on the opposite side of the intersection had started moving closer. I had always been paranoid of accidents since a family member had passed from one when I was younger. My entire body tensed at the sight of a car moving so fast in our direction, and I screamed at my friend Chloe to speed up in hopes that the car would miss us. The vehicle did miss hitting me directly on the passenger seat but hit the rear passenger tire instead. The impact was hard enough to set off the airbags in the back and front passenger side. I could only remember the dust and debris flying around as the bags deployed, and I temporarily blacked out from the impact to the side of my head. The best way I could describe the feeling was my face being numb and my ears ringing and muffled simultaneously; everything seemed to move slowly before it went dark. I woke up shortly after as my friend had safely parked the car in the shopping plaza at the corner of the intersection. She was trying to wake me up while attempting to move the airbags from the car door to help me get out if I needed to. I was disoriented, and the right side of my body was numb. My left hip hurt from hitting the seat belt buckle. I had a cut on the back of my hand from the airbag inflating. Chloe was crying and asking if I was okay. In my daze, I raised my hands and touched my face and neck. Despite being numb, I could tell that nothing was terribly injured.

We called in the accident and waited for the other vehicle to arrive. The police officers helped determine that the other driver did not call in about the incident or stop at the scene, and thus, we did not know who hit us. In a fortunate turn of events, the impact had been hard enough to lodge the other driver’s front license plate in the space between the rear passenger wheel and the car.

Chloe had whiplash and was emotionally distraught. It did not help that her new car, a birthday gift from two months prior, was now totaled, and we had no form of transportation after the accident. I tried to be as optimistic as possible and had giant bruises on my left hip, the right side of my face, and my right arm. The sore feeling immediately set in all over my body, and my right ear was ringing periodically. The other driver faced the consequences of failing to render aid and a hit-and-run car accident. It was a high school student driving their parent’s car who now has the accident on their record.

We like to look back at that time with laughs and think of it as an odd bonding experience, but we both know that the accident could have been so much worse. What could have happened if Chloe had not sped up, if the other driver had gone just a bit faster, or if the other driver had noticed the red light altogether? It took one minute for that event to unfold.

Distractions while driving or general inattentiveness can play a large part in being a safe and educated driver. Driving schools and exams are already in place to introduce and ensure driving safety is practiced. However, drivers should be periodically tested after issuing their licenses, not just for younger drivers but also for those who may be in poor health, which could affect driving or old age and might affect reaction times. My community is no stranger to vehicle accidents, and whether it is seeing them unfold in front of me or physically being a part of one, it doesn’t get easier. So many lives are taken or changed by the dangers of driving irresponsibly, and I am lucky only to have tinnitus from the accident, but it should not have to be that way.

Operating a fast-moving vehicle that weighs a ton is a considerable responsibility. One mistake can affect many lives in the blink of an eye. As a teenager, I understand that driving courses may not be the most fun or engaging, and I also understand the sense of immense freedom that comes with being able to travel on your terms. As Churchill said, “With great power, there is great responsibility,” and that responsibility should not end when you have obtained your license.