How Netflix Saved my Life

It was a normal Saturday evening in October.  A friend was at my house and we were binge watching a Netflix show. She had an early curfew, but she asked her mom if she could stay 15 minutes later in order for us to finish an episode; her mother said it was fine. We didn’t realize at the time that that 15 minutes really meant something.

We left my  house at 10:15 instead of at 10:00 as planned. When I left my neighborhood, I couldn’t turn on our main road because emergency vehicles had put up a barrier. Instead, I took her home using a longer route, and wondered what had happened.

The next morning, I woke up to a number of messages from friends. Was I OK? My mom was getting similar texts from her friends. The rumor was that some seniors from my neighborhood had been in a bad accident, but no one seemed to know what was going on.

Later that day, I learned what had happened. A drunk driver had rear ended three seniors. Two lived in my neighborhood. One, I had known from middle school. One went to my church. They were varsity athletes and volunteers in my community. They also were having a normal Saturday night and got hit by a man driving his Jaguar on the straight country road too fast after drinking too many rum and Cokes. The car exploded and they burned to death in a corn field. The drunk survived. He told the local news about the rum and Cokes.

I live about a mile away from the site of the accident. That type of accident shakes you as is, but knowing I was half a sitcom episode away from being there when it happened is chilling. The finding out that they were my former classmates was even more chilling. To me, car accidents feel like they “only happen to other people,” but this puts into perspective that they can really happen to anyone. These were kids just like me. They weren’t out late and they were driving between houses on a Saturday night. My friends, my family, my whole community, and I will never be the same since the tragedy. 

It will forever leave a mark on my community as a whole. I have never in my life seen a situation where so many people so close to me got together and mourned. I saw people I hadn’t seen in years and grieved with them. It was incredibly sad, but incredibly powerful. I drive by the roadside memorial every time I leave my neighborhood. My 10 year old brother is constantly asking questions when I drive him to school. He wants to know how a car can explode. Why couldn’t the kids get out of the car? Will the stuffed animals and flowers be on the side of the road forever?  Schools all over the area held memorials. I was asked to serve at Mass for one of the funerals, and I had multiple people ask me about it. I have never witnessed my community experience such a tragedy together before. 

The worst part is that this type of accident is completely preventable. Any accident that happens because of a drunk driver is one hundred percent avoidable. I believe that it is very important to educate everyone, especially teenagers and young adults that getting behind the wheel while under the influence is pure danger and should never happen. Along with that education, I believe that people should be made aware of the options that are available, like Uber, Lyft, public transportation, or getting a ride with a friend or family member. Also, if a friend or a bartender had realized the man was drunk and had stopped him, it would have saved three lives. I believe that if education on drunk driving gets better, it can be beneficial for society. Also, it is situations like this one that can help to convince students that they need to be part of the solution. Hearing it from a police officer or teacher may not be as helpful. It would be better to hear real stories from real students.

I don’t worry now about the students of Madison. We have all been impacted by this tragedy and hopefully it will prevent many of my generation from driving drunk. I hope that when we meet new friends in college that they will hear our story, and I hope it will convince them to not drive under the influence and to prevent others from getting behind the wheel.