A Tale of Two Warnings

Car crashes are a very common occurrence in today’s world. Almost every day on the news, there is a report of someone else who got into a crash. Some fatal, some not. Most people don’t even pay attention to it, because they are so used to this. Car crashes are not something that should be normalized today, yesterday, or in the future. Car crashes can ruin families’ lives. They can ruin a person’s life. Whether that be through insurance or guilty conscience or both, a person involved in or a witness of a crash can have serious mental, emotional, or financial problems later in life. When I was about nine or ten years old, I got into a minor crash. It was just a fender bender, but I distinctly remember being terrified. I also remember seeing the driver looking at his phone right before he hit us. So many people are used to checking their phones, that they don’t even think twice about it before doing it on the road. I’ve seen people do it on backroads, on interstates, and even in towns. Checking your phone is not only dangerous for yourself, but also for every single other person, car, or pet that may be in the way. Those few seconds, no matter how brief, can change the course of a person’s entire life. I’m talking not just fines, but also jailtime, if they kill someone. That can mess with the rest of their life, because employers don’t want to hire someone who is irresponsible. The person may also suffer from serious mental trauma after a car crash, even if it was nonfatal. Even the idea of getting into a car again can cause a person to break out in a cold sweat and start panicking. When you add in the possibility that they previously hit a civilian, it can really mess someone up. Take Adrian, for example. He was a nine-year-old boy who got hit during a carnival in town a few years ago by a drunk high school student. He died that night. A nine-year-old boy, who had his whole life in front of him, was killed by one choice a student decided to make. People claimed that it was his fault, because it was dark and he ran out in front of the car. But it was the driver’s fault for choosing to be driving drunk, especially on a night when so many people would be out and about in town. Not only was the student heavily fined, but they were most likely unable to find a job afterwards. An employer wouldn’t want that big of a stain in their company. Adrian’s whole family was devastated and outraged. His brother, who now goes to our school, is a very quiet kid, and rarely talks to people. His mom severely lost weight and often zones out in public settings. Our whole town showed up to Adrian’s funeral, and he got his own memorial in a local park. It was a tragic event that really impressed upon our town just how important it is to be alert and aware on the roads. Just last year, a good friend of mine almost died in a crash. She was driving fast down a backroad at night, when suddenly she turned too sharp. The car rolled completely over into the other lane’s ditch and landed on its hood. The whole car was crushed. No one was there to witness it. Luckily, a different friend had her location and was able to find her. She thought our friend had died when she saw the car in that state. Somehow, miraculously, she was completely uninjured. By the time a second friend had gotten there, all she saw was police cars, an ambulance, firetrucks, the totaled car, the first friend, and all of their parents. She immediately assumed the worst, and both of them started sobbing. The car crash made us all so much more thankful for each other, and we started looking out for and checking in on each other more often. High school students should not have to go through this fear. Our biggest worries should be homework, extracurriculars, and when the next dance is. Not if our best friend is dead. Not if a parent is in an accident when they don’t pick up the phone. This is why safe driving is so important. It helps to protect our loved ones. It helps to keep other peoples’ families safe, intact, and unafraid.