It’s My Loved Ones Lives at Stake, Not Just Yours.

Spring Williams

Driver Education Initiative Essay Contest

2 November 2019

It’s My Loved Ones Lives at Stake, Not Just Yours.

Just like any other day, I was driving to school. I had forgotten to let my boyfriend know that I had left the house. I did not want him to worry, so I decided to send him a quick text. The next thing I saw was my car about to hit a speed limit sign, so I pulled the steering wheel all the way to one side. I could hear it slamming because I yanked it so hard. My car was in the other lane, so I turned the steering wheel all the way to the other side. My car touched the grass, so I tried to turn it again. My car went right into a tree. I felt the impact of the crash radiate through my body. My radio was stuck playing both some pop station and a Katy Perry CD. The whole experience was surreal. Had I just crashed my car? Am I okay? The airbags had deployed because I was speeding. I felt deep in My bones that I needed to get out of the car, but my door was stuck shut. I tried looking for my phones quickly in order to call my dad, but I could not see it. Because the road I was on went in-between swamp area, the passenger side of my car was in water. I crawled into the backseat and got out of the driver side back door. This crash still haunts me. It was almost a year ago that I totaled my car. I was unable to get into a car without having a panic attack for almost a week. I still have PTS symptoms, like reoccurring nightmares and flashbacks and have gained a large anxiety over driving anywhere.

Like most students I took a Drivers Education Course online but did not take it seriously and never understood the magnitude of driver safety until my accident. I did not take the class seriously. Had I been going the speed limit; my car accident would not have been so bad. Had I understood the magnitude of texting and driving, the accident would have never happened. People need to understand that these things will happen to you or a loved one.

I think that reducing the number of screens in the car will help reduce the number of driving related deaths immensely. Phone companies, insurance companies, or safe driving advocacy groups, could make installing those “Stop texting and driving” apps more appealing, so that people use them. In new cars there are between two and four screens. We need to find an effective incentive for people to not use them. Telling people about the amount of deaths that are happening is not enough, they do not care, and they choose to ignore the information.

I have not used my cell phone in the car since my accident. I have become more alert. I go the speed limit. Most people only learn from their mistakes; in these cases, there are lives at stake.