In an Instant

Nearly
every day on the news is the report of another fatal car accident
where a son, daughter, mother, father, wife or husband are killed in
an instant. One person dying leaves dozens of people mourning for a
loved one after only a single moment changed their lives forever.
Many people have not been educated on the dangers of driving
carelessly and need to be better informed of their significance when
driving on the road. One more person being more aware could change
the lives of dozens.

My school made the state
championship for football a year ago. One of my closest friends was
on the cheerleading team and came with her family and younger brother
to the game two hours away. Everyone was thrilled when we won the
game. On the way home, their car got hit by a drunk driver at two in
the morning. A night filled with celebrating suddenly stopped and was
shattered. My friend’s parents were both police officers. Her
mother died instantly, her father was paralyzed and I critical
condition. Thankfully her and her brother only had minor physical
injuries, but had critical emotional harm done by the cruel taking of
their mother’s life. The impact of the single car, single driver,
single decision changed a whole community’s life. We shared their
story on the news for months tracking the family’s recovery
process. But all of this harm could have been prevented if the drunk
driver had been more educated on the consequences of drunk driving.
It goes beyond a single person.

Too
many drivers are unaware of how far a car moves in a single second,
even off the freeway. One moment of looking down at a phone is all it
takes to lose control of the vehicle and kill a pedestrian or another
driver. If you are driving 40 mph, less than the average side road
speed limit, you are going 58.8 feet per second. In perspective, a
football field is 300 feet. In 5 seconds, you have driven the length
of a football field. The average person does not realize this and
chooses to look down at the text message they just received. The
public needs to be more educated on the facts and how even being
careless for a second could leave a lifetime of pain.

If
anyone you are in the car with gets a text message while they are
driving remind them of how crucial every second is when they are on
the road. If your friend talks about showing off their sports car by
gunning it in the rain, show them a video of someone spinning out and
flipping their car. If you notice someone that is intoxicated or
otherwise under the influence- call them a cab, a friend, talk to
them and take away their keys. It only takes a second to change
dozens of lives for the worst.