The Gravity of Safe Driving

A fifth grader’s biggest worry should involve their upcoming vocab quiz or making the basketball team. However, mine was far more daunting- fearing for my mom’s life. The summer of 2016 my family changed forever on a vacation in Denver. My Dad, mom, two brothers (Nate and Owen), and I were driving on the highway after dinner at a barbeque restaurant. I was sifting through the bits of treasure I collected from gold panning earlier that day in the back seat. What began as a great day quickly unraveled as we watched the car next to us suffer a blown tire, careening off the road. Rebounding at 70 mph, it smashed into the passenger side, hurtling our car into the median and flipping us five times. Good Samaritans rushed over, carrying me from the wreckage. I was lying on the ground, head in a stranger’s lap. I glanced down at my legs, with blood pouring down and cuts all over, numb from the pain, but not the horror I felt.

My dad stood by the guard rail, a pure look of fear for his children and wife. I had no view of the other side of the car, where chaos reigned. Sirens blared, and I was quickly rushed into an ambulance with my dad. I had no ability to register anything, with adrenaline rushing through my nine-year-old body. I spent that night in the hospital disoriented, thirsty, and scared. I was only able to see my dad after the accident, and he was in bad shape. I had no idea what happened to my brothers or my mom. The next day I was able to see Owen, but he was practically unrecognizable. He had bruises all over, but most notably a large makeshift cast on his leg and a wheelchair at his side. Little did we know he would spend the next year confined to that wheelchair, entering a new high school unable to walk. Then I saw Nate, with bloodshot eyes, a neck brace, and an arm cast.

Then I saw my mom. She WAS unrecognizable. The room was full of machines connected to her, through her mouth, her chest, her arms, her legs. There was this curtain hanging over her right arm, hiding it from view. I could hardly stand, my legs shaking at the sight of my own mother, with a purple face, wires and tubes, her eyes so lifeless. That became my last memory of her for four months. She stayed in Denver while I started school, living with my grandma. A month after the accident I spoke to her on the phone, but it wasn’t her voice, or her words. Not only was her body permanently disabled, but her mind was. Her right, dominant, arm is no longer functional, and she struggles with severe PTSD, anxiety, and depression.

This traumatic car accident shifted the trajectory of my life, and it was all because of a twenty-year-old spare tire failing. Negligently put on and used for well over 600 miles, it was only a matter of time before the old tire gave out. It was a ticking time bomb that detonated at the precise moment to shatter my mother’s life. The man who drove that car had no regard for road safety, and using that faulty tire is a clear sign of obliviousness. Education is the only way to stop these preventable accidents. Knowledge of car maintenance like tires, oil, lights, and coolant is crucial for road safety. This experience taught me the importance of preventative measures, like refilling my oil before the car notifies me, checking tire air pressure and tread before I go on long trips. I continue to become a safer driver by researching and exercising my knowledge of cars so that my vehicle is reliable.

I witnessed another preventable accident up close the beginning of my junior year of high school, but from a different perspective. One of my closest friends had just gotten her license, only sixteen days in. She was driving to a tennis tournament when she approached a biker. The biker had made a signal, and she misinterpreted that as “you can pass!”, so she accelerated, and began to enter the left lane to go around him. However, that signal he made was not to pass, it was to turn left. She hit him head on with her SUV, killing him on impact. I couldn’t bring myself to hear the details of the crash, for as a victim of an ignorant driving mistake, it was difficult to face her. I empathize with that man’s family, understanding their pain through shared experiences. If my friend had paid attention in drivers ed about bikers and knew the signals, that man would be alive.

These traumatic experiences have given me the perspective and knowledge to be a safe driver, holding others accountable. Drivers ed is crucial to learning road safety, and it often gets overlooked by people my age. Skipping through pages and videos of crucial information is not like skipping any other class in school, but a matter of life and death. Though I may feel the urge to change a song on my phone occasionally, I must remember the stakes. Being a good role model for friends and family while driving can keep them attentive and safe. Educating my peers on stories like this helps them gain perspective and understand the gravity of driving safely. Nobody intends to make a foolish mistake that ends someone’s life or disables them permanently, yet it is hard for some to realize that it can happen to anyone if they are distracted or uneducated.

Accountability, education, self-control, and smart decisions pave the way to safe roads. I’m committed to sharing my warning stories so that no one ever endures such traumatic accidents again.