Is it worth it?

My parents always warned me not to go on the freeway, and I always wondered why. Watching from the passenger seat, it always looked fairly simple. Even before I had my license and I only had my permit, I would always beg my dad to drive, no matter how short the distance was. And every single time I wouldn’t start driving until my phone was connected and I was blasting my music. When I first got my license I felt the new driver high. I wanted to drive all my friends anywhere and everywhere. I had my own car, my dad paid for gas and all I had to do was drive. I had long before carefully curated my driving playlist with all the best songs that me and my friends could sing along with while I was driving. I had set my maps app to only take me through streets and not freeways because I was still fairly new and getting used to driving alone. But one time I was driving me and my friends to this party and it would take us an extra hour to get there if we didn’t take the freeway. I was hesitant and knew the right choice was to either just stay home or take the extra hour. My friends, unlicensed of course, pleaded with me to take the freeway. “It can’t be that bad.” “Come on don’t be lame.” “Wow Ava don’t ruin our plans and the whole night just because you’re scared.” Scared? Me? Ava Mehr? Never. I am a lot of things but scared? I don’t think so. All of a sudden my parent’s words flow through my mind, “Be safe Ava.” “Don’t make bad decisions.” “You have no idea how many crazy drivers are out there.” Quickly I shut them out and laughed it off, agreeing to take us on the freeway. I start the car as nervous as ever, but I know I can’t show it. I drive us and enter the freeway. It’s silent. I am holding my breath just praying in my head that our exit will show up soon. My friends start talking to me, I laugh and act normal desperate not to show how I really feel. Suddenly, I see my lane coming to an end and know I have to merge. I take a deep breath, “I know what to do.” I think to myself. I turn my turn signal on, check my mirror, and check my blind spot. All clear. I start to steer my wheel into the lane to my left. Slowly, I make it, safe and sound. “Phew that wasn’t even bad,” I say out loud and my friends chuckle. From there it was smooth sailing, I felt like a pro! A couple minutes later the car in front of me is trying to merge into the left lane. They turn on their blinker, but no one in the lane lets them in, as if they all have somewhere desperately important to be! The car finally finds a gap and starts their merge. I pay little attention, more focused on the debate with my friends on whether Nicki Minaj or Cardi B is the queen of rap. I look over to my left and see that the car next to me is going fast. Not only that, but they had BOTH hands off of the steering wheel and on their phone to text. And as they pass by I smell some sort of stench. I identify it…weed. BOOM! A sudden burst of sound drills through my ear. I whip my head to the side, almost swerving the car. The car in front of me that was trying to merge was hit by the car next to me and went right into the divider/barrier of the freeway. Me and my friends stare, jaws all wide open, as the car flips onto its roof and glass shatters everywhere. I pull the car over and park it. I watch in shock, with only one thought isolated in my head, “That could have been me.” I quickly got out of my car to check on the person and thankfully they weren’t severely hurt. Other people start to quickly surround the scene and call 911. As more adults showed up, they ushered me back to my car making sure I was okay and not completely traumatized. I get back in my car and it is silent. We sit in quiet for about 10 minutes when one of my friends finally says, “Are we still going to that party?” My heart is aching to say no, I need to go home, but still, for some reason, I reply with, “Yeah girl duh! The night is just getting started!” The rest of the night I was quiet. I tried to play it off and make it seem like I was okay, but deep down I knew I wasn’t. That night was a lesson for me, not to never ever take the freeway, but to BE CAREFUL. So many lives can be saved by simply paying attention to your driving and saving anything else that you are doing for later. Whatever you do with your life is entirely up to you, but save it for when you are on land, feet on the ground, and not driving. Not only do you put yourself at risk, but the others around you as well. It’s never worth it to send that one text or smoke that one blunt. Drive safe, save yourself, and save lives.