Enjoying the Pretty Days in Texas

In Texas we call beautiful sunny days “pretty days”. Saturday, October 15, 2016, was just such a day Houston, Texas. I’ll always remember that day. My mom had just picked me up from a career exploration event downtown. We were headed home in her white Jeep YJ. About 3 blocks from home the light turned red and we stopped. When the light turned green she proceeded into the intersection and we both saw a red Jeep Cherokee heading towards us. I remember my mom saying, “I don't think that car is going to stop.” It didn’t. The driver ran a red light and hit us broadside in the intersection. The car was going so fast that when it hit us on the passenger side it caused our vehicle to roll completely over. All I remember was the impact and the spinning. Then I lost consciousness for a few seconds. When I came to I could hear sirens in the distance. This was bad.

Our vehicle had flipped, spun and slid so far that we were out of the intersection. My mom and I were hanging from the seatbelts. The airbags didn’t deploy because of the angle of the impact but the front window was shattered and the roof settled onto the roll bars. The other vehicle remained right side up in the intersection. People started coming out of nearby restaurants and an apartment. They must have been worried about a fire starting because they began unlocking our seatbelts and getting us out.By the time police and fire arrived we were both out of our vehicle. The other driver and 2 young children had also been assisted out of their vehicle and were sitting on the sidewalk.

So what happened to make this other driver run that red light? We’ll never know. We do know that both my mom and I suffered concussions. We both went for endless doctors appointments and each were required to follow concussion protocol. For me that meant staying out of school for 2 weeks full time and 2 weeks part time. My mom continues with issues of traumatic brain injury.

After all of this I can honestly say driver safety is critically important to me. As a teen driver, and a male teen driver at that, I don’t buy into the fact that we are all risky drivers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2017 that teen drivers are nearly three times more likely than those 20 and older to be in a fatal crash. That does sound like the majority are risky. The riskiest driver I’ve ever known about was the driver who hit us. Interestingly enough, she was middle aged Nothing to do with underdeveloped teenage brain or inexperience.The accident I was in had no fatalities but it certainly could have. After the accident, and the process with doctors and lawyers, I took extra in-car drivers ed practice as I was a little jumpy and needed to smooth that out.

What steps can be taken to reduce the number of deaths? Drivers ed, for one. The State of Texas does a good job of that: prior to getting your permit and your license there are tests you must pass. For the license you also have to have drivers ed with a parent or with an instructor. Maybe there should be a test for your license renewal? That might catch some additional dangerous driving types. As weel, part of drivers ed for teens, I think that having a parent who can show good driving skills for new drivers to mimic is important. Why would I not text and drive or drink and drive if my parents do it?

Another aspect of safe driving, for everyone, is to have some consequences for breaking the rules. Why do people slam on the brakes when they see a potential police car with a radar gun? It’s so they don’t get a ticket. If more enforcement of the rules occurred, with stiffer penalties, more people would comply. As for myself, I am very aware of the rules of the road. My parents also purchased a very old, very small Jeep TJ with manual transmission. It would be hard for me to break the speed limit. And that 1will keep me safe and let me enjoy the pretty days here in Texas.

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