Thankfully I have never been in an accident myself or have never been in a car that was in an accident. But I am very familiar with how dangerous car accidents can be. A close friend of mine was just recently in an easily avoidable accident. After I heard the story, I realized how dangerous it was to get into an accident when a driver is distracted.
My friend was driving herself and her brother to an appointment and they were eager to get to the office on time. She pulled up to a stop sign at an intersection and pulled out her phone. When I asked why she pulled out her phone, she told me it was because she thought she had time to check her phone. Finally, it was her time to check and see if the intersection was clear but with her phone in hand, she didn’t check to see if there was cross traffic properly.
She said it happened quickly, faster than her mind could process what was happening. One second, she was pulling forward into the intersection and then she and her brother were on the other side of the intersection after being plowed through by a truck. She said that she vividly remembered her brother was still screaming after they stopped moving.
It didn’t take long for the cops and ambulances to arrive and take action. They were quick and gentle with my friend, who was still in shock and trying to process that accident. Unfortunately, they didn’t have much good news for my friend, who was desperate to figure how much this could affect her future. They informed her that she had a totaled car and it would have to be towed from the site and she would be getting a hefty ticket since she caused the accident.
While the news the cop gave her laid on her heavily, she was still thankful that no harm came to anyone in the accident except for a few scrapes and bruises. Her brother was still struggling to comprehend what had happened and my friend said she felt terrible for putting her brother through the ordeal.
My friend didn’t tell anyone what had happened, brushing it off with a simple explanation. But I could see how much it affected her. She was terrified to get behind the wheel of a car and even more so when her brother got in with her. She got rid of the clothes she had worn that day, throwing them into the trash because they were too much to bear to look at, much less wear.
Finally, it accumulated into an emotional outburst where she explained the whole thing, how she felt like an idiot for going on her phone while she'd been driving or how she shouldn’t have been in that much of a rush to get to the appointment. She talked about how she could barely get behind the wheel of a car since she and her brother nearly died.
After hearing the story and seeing how it affected my friend, I couldn’t help but think that I needed to take a deep look into how I was as a driver and what I could do better to be a safer driver. The first and easiest change I made was to make sure my phone, the biggest distraction in my car, was left in a phone holder attached to my radio. This way my phone was still visible in case I needed any directions but out of reach if I wanted to check any notifications I may have. I have also placed my phone on do not disturb in the past so that I won’t have to worry about the temptation to check any notifications.
I also made sure that my radio was never too loud and wasn’t as much of a distraction while I was driving. I will turn down the music and possibly mute it when I am in a situation that I find stressful and needs my full attention. Sometimes when I go on a drive that I know will be stressful and requires my full attention, I will put on a playlist that I know won’t be too distracting.
This strategy also applies to my friends and family. When they are in the car, I will ask them to keep their voices down or even stop talking when I am in a situation that I think needs my full attention. I also make it clear when someone gets in my car, I may stop responding when I think we are in a situation that I believe where I think a conversation would be too much of a distraction.
After implementing these few changes, I saw myself become a better driver. I still find it hard to believe sometimes that these changes came from my friend getting in an accident. I hope that no one I know gets into an accident ever again. However, I am thankful that she was ok and told me what she had done so I was able to implement better habits when I am driving so I am safer and am less likely to crash because I was doing something dangerous while on the road.