I am so unlucky

I am so Unlucky

The first time it happened was a surprise to me. It took me a second to comprehend what had just happened. I did not expect someone to crash into me in the parking lot. A parked car. How in the world do you hit a parked car? Well I looked up and not to my surprise it was a young lady approximately a year younger than me who was holding a phone in her hand. Don’t text and drive kids. As she approached me and apologized, she offered me $40 to fix a huge dent in my car. As you might’ve guessed, well I did not take the offer and the police did get involved. Seeing that I was planning to get a new car anyway, we sold that car that was involved in the incident and decided to get a Honda Accord 2020. Just my luck not even a month later, I was involved in another car accident. I did have auto insurance so don’t worry. This time the lady thought her light was green and decided to take a left turn and well there goes my new car. The rule is I am going straight so she has to yield to me unless my light is red, and her light is a green arrow. Or if her light is green and there isn’t any car on the other side of the road then she can turn. See the significance of driver education and not texting while driving?

Driver education includes learning the rules while driving a vehicle but also the do’s and don’ts. It is imperative that people understand how to operate their vehicle, the different signs that pop up on the road, the rule of yielding, and what not to do while driving. The billboards, the ads, and the parent that consistently tells you to not be on your phone while driving are all there for a reason. According to the National Safety Council, cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year. According to my old driving teacher and my high school coach, yes they were the same person, it is like driving blind. Imagine putting a blindfold on every time you look down at your phone. If every driver actually knew all the rules to driving and are not distracted in any way whether physically or mentally then theoretically the number of crashes and deaths will significantly go down.

To prevent deaths relating to driving, I decided to do some research on the states with the least and most driving fatalities. The states with the most deaths include rural states such as Alabama and Mississippi. Also, the least would be an urban state like New York. Although this might be a long-term fix, it could work. States should try and give drivers less reasons to drive from place to place. Like New York everything is so close together that people just walk around. It would take time for states to build up the resource but if every state would use New York as an example then we can cut down motor accident deaths by at least half.

Now that I have been in not one but two car accidents, every time I drive my senses are heightened and not only do I follow the rules I often try to avoid cars in general. I also found out about an app that rewards you for not being on your phone while you drive. It is called Safe 2 Save and basically it gives you points for not being on the phone while you drive, and you can use those points to redeem coupons for your favorite restaurant. Recently I moved to Florida and I noticed the drivers here are far more reckless than in Houston where I am from. So to be safe on the road even if I see the car twitch my sixth sense will kick in and I am prepared to brake just in case they decide to go.

All in all, next time you drive just be sure to be safe and aware of your surroundings. Resist that urge to touch your phone and turn down the speakers a little. The whole world doesn’t need to hear One Direction blasting on your radio.