Drive like Your Life Depends on It!!

As I woke up with a killer headache and a bloody head, I looked around confused.  Everything was a blur, and I couldn’t catch focus until I saw myself behind the steering wheel of my car. I looked ahead then realized what happened. I had run off the road and rammed into a tree. I turned my head to the right…my best friend was covered in red, choking on her own blood. “Nia.” I said, not being able to be any louder than a whisper. “Nia.” I called again!  Every time with more panic and confusion. “Nia! Nia! Nia say something!” Over and over again I called, but no answer. I immediately swung my door open, and jumped out. I fell to the ground, and when I tried to get up, I tumbled right back down. I was too weak. Things started to blur again. I blacked out for a moment, but came to.  I lifted myself out of the car and began crawling around to the passenger side. I had to drag my injured bloody leg. It wasn’t painful at the time, but during that moment, I was more worried about my best friend.   When I finally got to the other side, I forced myself to stand on my good leg to pry the door open.

The car had crashed into the right side of the tree where Nia was, which damaged the door.  I hopped on my left leg, struggling to get the door open for what felt like an eternity.  I finally managed to bust it free, falling back hard. I got up quickly and looked inside to find Nia had stopped bleeding. In fact, her eyes were closed and her breathing was slow. “Nia!” I grabbed her and shook her as hard as I could. “Wake up! Wake up!” She didn’t…… Tears rolled down my eyes swiftly. My heart started pounding. I began breathing hard and fast. I let go of Nia, and started holding my chest. I was panicking. I couldn’t think clearly, and my hands were shaking uncontrollably. “Pull it together. Come on, Pull it together.” I mumbled. I suddenly reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone to call 911, but when I tried turning it on it wouldn’t work.” No no no no! This can’t be happening.” I said, putting my head in my hands angrily. “HELP! Somebody please help me!” I screamed weakly. Nobody answered. “Help…please.” My voice began to crack, as I repeatedly called out for help. My voice was getting lower and lower. I started to lose hope, but I got up and put my hands on Nia’s face. She wasn’t moving. “Nia?” Nothing. “Nia!” I called. Nothing. “No. please. Please stay with me…don’t leave me.” Streaks of tears ran down my cheeks like rain going down on a stormy day. Her breathing became slower, and slower by the second, as I watched her take her last and final breath. “I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry.” I said wearily, as I fell back on the hard ground from where my blood lay. I tried to make sense of everything as I was laying on the ground. It was all a hazy mess. Then, I remembered everything.

My best friend and I went to a club and had lots of fun.  We danced and sang to the music which we thought was terrible. We laughed like we were kids. We laughed and partied like there was no tomorrow, as if it was just the two of us. Little did I know, there was no tomorrow for one of us. As I lay there on the ground, I couldn’t stop questioning myself. Why did I pick up that phone?  Why did I think it was smart to text pictures to our friends? Why did I think it was okay to post our activities on Instagram in that moment?  Why did I think any of that was important at that moment?  Why, why did I do that?

Most importantly, why didn’t I listen when she told me to turn it off? Maybe she would still be alive. I couldn’t help but think the worst. My eyes started to puff up, and I felt like I wanted die with her. Or at least, be the one that died instead of her. Was she in peace now? Was she still in pain? All of a sudden, I saw a flash of light.  It was the ambulance. I looked at Nia’s lifeless body. “I’m sorry.” I said again. Looked up at the dark starry sky, then closed my eyes, as the last tear came down slowly. 

How do we avoid situations like this?  How do we reduce the dangerous habit of texting or using social media while driving?  How do we reduce the number of deaths due to car accidents?  How we ask?  We share this story in driver’s education classes across the county.  It’s gruesome and vividly painful, but one of many scenarios that could happen when driving while distracted.   

Driver’s education courses are the very first important step to help reduce the number of deaths due to car accidents.  However, I think that we can do more.  In order to save even more lives, in addition to the current driver’s education classes, we should implement a mandatory driver’s education workshop in high schools that is focused on distracted driving.  In order for any student to pass their driver’s education class, they must successfully complete this workshop.  The workshop would cover distracted driving, the results of distracted driving (with real life examples of what can happen), how to avoid distracted driving and finally require a signed commitment that the student will NOT pick up his/her phone while driving. 

One of the very first things that I did when I started driving was to put my phone in do not disturb mode.  Now, every time I get into the car, it automatically turns on and I don’t have to worry about the distraction of the phone.  I also think that car companies need to implement technology that will suspend use of cells phones when in the driver’s seat of a car.  This would not only help new drivers, but this will help people who are more experience drivers, but that still make mistakes, become distracted and have accidents.  The technology that I use today requires the student to take action to put their phone on do not disturb.  I personally use this on my phone, but we depend on each student or even every adult to turn on the do not disturb function, so if this automatically happened when entering the driver’s seat of the car, this would save many lives and avoid many accidents.

There have been two things that have had a big impact on me as a driver.  When my mom was a little girl, she was in a car accident.  A drunk driver ran into their car.  She had many bumps and bruise and a broken leg.  The doctor’s actually told my grandparents that she would never walk again, but thankfully that wasn’t the case.  But because of this accident, my mom has always drilled in me the importance of driving safely, so as soon as I started driving, I have always been very cautious.  I always talk to my friends about being safe, and recommend that they put their device on do not disturb as well. 

The second thing is that a few years ago, I rode with one of my friends to an event.  When he got on the highway, he started driving extremely fast and he kept looking down at his phone, changing the radio station, looking in the back seat while talking and watching the navigation.  He was doing everything but keeping his eyes on the road.  It made me very nervous and I told him to slow down.  He laughed at me and said it was no big deal, but I was afraid.  Any little thing could cause him to lose control of the car and kill us all.  I couldn’t wait to get out of that car and knew that I would never ride with him again.  This made me even more focused about talking to my friends about safe driving.

If people can hear about stories like the one above, and talk to their friends and family like I do about being safe, or if we can require an extra workshop, or put a required device in cars…. If we can do any and all of these things, we can save more lives.  And even though I am just one person, and may only be able to influence a few people, I will continue to be extra safe and encourage my friends as well. Even if only one accident is avoided or one life saved, it will be worth it.