A Speedy Change

I received my license two months later than my sixteenth birthday, due to it being 2020, and the DMV being closed for health precautions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, I took great steps in being a safe driver. My mom would take me to our local school parking lot every Sunday to practice parking and get familiar with how the vehicle worked, and we would get cheese sticks from Giovanni’s afterward. I did all of my online Driver’s Education well before the six months I had it for were up. While I found parts of it dull, I knew that the information I was receiving was important.

Car wreck statistics and recordings, stories of families who had been affected by unsafe drivers, the knowledge of how dangerous distracted driving could be…. It filled the forefront of my mind every time I was behind the wheel. As my parents told me, a car is a weapon just as much as any gun or knife, and it needs to be handled with the same care. The first time I drove alone, after finally receiving my license, (with the warning that my parents would be watching me on Life360 while I was gone), I set off. I was nervous, for sure…. But I felt a sense of rightness at the moment. That delicious freedom found upon realizing that you are in a car alone filled my veins. Nevertheless, I kept my music volume low, my phone on silent, and both hands on the wheel.

As any driver knows, however, it becomes easier to be arrogant each time you are in the car. More than a year passed, and I became arrogant. I thought I had proven myself as a driver. I had made it through my first year with a license without incident, how many teen drivers could say that? I knew the danger, but I was good enough to make sure nothing happened.

Whenever I was in a car alone, I started having small phone usage. Only whenever I was at a stop light or in traffic, though. And I never texted. I would just read any messages I had, maybe switch a playlist…. Things I could easily justify. I would blare my music and have one hand on the wheel, and the other out the window, enjoying my freedom. I was more careful while having passengers, of course, but while by myself? It was only my life at risk. Surely there was nothing wrong with having a little fun.

Well, I was going to pick up my sister from the barn, and I took a back road instead of the highway. It had been hot recently, but on that day, a light rain drizzled upon the road. Unbeknownst to me, the combinations resulted in a slick road. Oil drips onto roads whenever you drive, and when it’s hot, the contents just sit there. Add water from rain to the condition, and…

I took a small turn, not thinking anything of it. At the time, I wasn’t on my phone. I had my windows up, my eyes on the road. Perhaps I was caught in a little daydream. I can’t quite remember. But the next thing I know, I have swerved off the road into a stranger’s yard. I didn’t even have time to scream.

My car landed sideways (driver’s side down) in a creek. The music was still playing, which I found strange. My cup was still in the cupholder. My seatbelt had locked around me, keeping me in place and protecting me from flying out the windshield. The water wasn’t very high due to the warm weather, thankfully, and my first coherent thought was I want my mommy. I fumbled for my phone and called her, sobbing.

The man whose property it was heard the crash and came out. He was an EMT and calmed down my hysteria after helping me climb out of the car before calling 911 and examining me. I wasn’t injured, other than whiplash from the seatbelt. My car had missed a gas line and half a dozen different trees by hardly more than a foot. Had I swerved the wheel, or gone off the road at a slightly different angle, the accident would have been a very different outcome. I do not doubt that God’s angels were protecting me that day.

Whenever I find myself getting arrogant now, a year later in May, I remind myself of that moment. The fear. The shock at how quickly things can happen. It’s a terrifying experience, but one that I don’t regret. I wish I could make other drivers understand how easily an accident can happen.

With the startling statistics of driver casualties-or even just accidents- in America, you would be hard-pressed to find a person who hasn’t experienced firsthand or known someone to suffer in an accident. But people still do not process the danger of getting behind the wheel. It is such a normal activity, you climb in a car nearly every day. Reminding yourself of the danger is a struggle.

But we must try. I take steps to be a safe driver by remembering my own experience, and how easily it could have ended with my death or a far more serious injury than a bit of bruising. My phone stays firmly zipped up within my purse while I’m in the driver’s seat, and my attention stays on the road. Whenever my friends talk about getting their licenses, I try to tell my own story and remind them to be careful. Things can happen far too quickly to take driving as a joke.