Five More Minutes

Music playing on the radio, hands at ten and two, seat belt buckled. One “ding ding”. Tires screech “BOOM”. Your car slams to a stop. But theirs doesn’t. The car YOU just hit goes flying to the right, and the teenage driver to the left. You look over her car is absolutely demolished, and on your left, a limp body with blood everywhere. People are screaming, sirens are blaring, red and blue lights are flashing all around. Your front end is caved inward, and you can’t breathe; you’re so shaken up. All for a text that said “LOL”.

Kodi, who went by K for short, was a 16-year-old junior in high school. She had a little sister, Layne, and two dogs named Henry and Tecova. She would be 17 in two weeks, and her parents were going to surprise her with a trip to Italy. She was the captain of the cheerleading team she has a competition in 4 days. While she was on her way to the mall to meet her friends, her boyfriend was at home taking a nap. They were gonna have dinner together tonight to celebrate their first anniversary. 

But Kodi won’t do any of that. Kodi won’t go shopping or go to the food court with her friends. She won’t come home to play with her dogs or give her sister the rest of her drink from the food court. She won’t turn 17 or thank her parents 1000 times over for the trip she had always wanted to go on. She won’t compete on Friday or win a bid to nationals. She won’t give her boyfriend the watch he’d been dying to have that she worked for weeks to afford.

Kodi won’t graduate high school or go to her dream college. She won’t get engaged or finally get to have the dream wedding she had been planning since she was 12. She won’t get the chance to be a nurse because she always wanted to help others. She won’t buy her dream house or get to experience finding out she's pregnant. She won’t get to have the family she always wanted or watch her kids grow up because Kodi won’t even make it to the mall.

All because one unimportant text couldn’t wait five more minutes. 

Because of your actions, Kodi’s mom got a gut-wrenching phone call, saying her daughter was in an accident and didn’t survive. Because of your actions her little sister will never get to run to her big sister when she needs something. Because of your actions, her boyfriend will have to be woken up to find out the girl he thought he was going to marry is dead. Because of your actions, her dogs will have to wonder why their favorite human didn’t come home. Because of your actions, her best friends, who were waiting for her at the mall, will get a phone call they couldn’t imagine they would ever receive. Because of your actions her parents have to try and plan a funeral for their 16-year-old child.  Because of your actions.

One text was all it took to change a life. 

You think you are an amazing driver; you know you can multitask. You text and drive all the time, and nothing bad has ever come of it. Sure, you hear about accidents happening all the time because people were texting and driving, but you know it wouldn’t happen to you. You’re way too smart for that; it only happens to reckless drivers. Until you realize anyone who picks up the phone is a reckless driver, including you.

Not only did Kodi and her community have to suffer the consequences you will too. You will have to live with the guilt of knowing you took the life of an innocent child. Not only that, you could go to jail for vehicular manslaughter and possibly serve 15 years in prison. Your whole life will be thrown sideways all because you couldn’t wait five more minutes.

Distracted driving causes over 3,100 deaths each year, which is at least 9 people every single day. That means every single day, 9 people's lives will change forever, and many will lose loved ones. Every single day, not once a year, not once every 6 months. Every single day, at least 9 people have to suffer the consequences of someone else's selfish actions. Nine people who still have their entire lives ahead of them will have them cut short in less than a second. Think before you pick up the phone, it can wait five more minutes.