I was jolted forward, and I felt the pressure of my seatbelt on my chest. I clenched my Nintendo DS in my hands as I watched my little sister launch out of her carseat and knock her face into the chair rails underneath the driver seat. I watched my mom get lunged forward and then hit her head on the steering wheel. My sister had unbuckled her seatbelt and my mom’s airbag had failed. After the crash, we all quickly unbuckled and got out of the car where we could see the damage that was done. There were car fluids all over the road, and all three cars involved in the crash were crunched. A woman who was helping us out of the car told me not to worry and that the fluids were like blood for cars. I’m not sure if she said that to make me feel better or to let me know the severity of what had just happened. A quick trip to the grocery store had turned into a horror scene in front of my innocent eyes. Our car had gotten sandwiched between a young man’s car that had hit us, and the car in front of us containing an old couple on their way to a family gathering. I’m so grateful I was wearing my seatbelt that day because it kept me from getting injured. My sister was not as lucky as me and ended up killing one of her teeth. It was a testament to me that wearing a seatbelt is always worth it. Luckily no one was hurt badly, but the crash could have easily been prevented. We found out afterwards that the man who hit us had been texting and driving. I was frustrated and confused because I was only a six-year-old and even I knew better than to text and drive. The six people involved in the crash could have been injured, or worse, because of one person’s poor decision to drive irresponsibly.
Through this troubling experience I was able to learn the importance of seatbelts, but unfortunately, my sister had to learn it the hard way. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), states that in 2017, 14,955 lives were saved because of the use of seatbelts in crashes. They also say that wearing a seatbelt is the number one way to protect oneself from other irresponsible drivers. If my sister hadn’t unbuckled her seatbelt she would never have flown out of her seat and killed her tooth. Many deaths could have been prevented if the people involved had been wearing a seatbelt.
According to the NHTSA, at any given time in the United States, about 135,300 drivers are on their phone. Thousands of people die every year from distracted driving, and a quarter of all crashes are caused by cell phones. My luck is unfortunate enough to have been affected by a distracted driver, but because of that, I know the dangers of texting and driving. I’ve made it a big part of my life to refrain from texting and driving. I want to change peoples’ perspective on distracted driving and show them how important it is not to do it. In driver’s education, we learn about the dangers of texting and driving, but it’s hard for people to internalize how dangerous phones can be without witnessing it for themselves. The NHTSA also states that “about 400 fatal crashes happen each year as a direct result of texting and driving.” A lot of teenagers don’t realize the gravity of that number. There are far more non-fatal crashes that are also caused by distracted driving. The importance of driving safely and undistracted should be made more apparent during Driver’s Ed. I remember taking our school’s Driver’s Ed class and having a whole unit about railroad crossings, and trains. There were multiple frightening videos in which cars were getting hit by trains. I believe that even though they are hard to watch, there is a certain factor in those videos that made them memorable. Because of the videos, I’ve never been tempted to drive around the railroad crossing gates like they did. If Driver’s Ed courses had those same types of videos showing the dangers of texting and driving, less drivers would be tempted to drive distracted, reducing the amount of crashes and increasing the amount of responsible drivers.
I hope that no one has to go through a traumatic motor vehicle accident to realize the importance of wearing a seatbelt, and that driving distractions are no joke. People are playing with their lives when they get behind the wheel and drive unsafely and unprotected. My experience with car accidents is not ideal, but I’m thankful for the impact it’s had on my personal driving choices to always buckle up, and to never drive distracted. My hope for the future is for everyone to acknowledge the importance of driving choice, and to make a pledge to drive safely for their own lives and for the lives of others.