Mary
Abebe

We
have only one life, let’s not rush and ruin it
It
all happened during that rainy summer of 2015. My family and I were
on our way to our house after having a great supper with my dad’s
friends. I was sitting at the back seat next to the door...no
seat belt on.
In the middle was my brother and next to him was my sister, again, no
seat belt on.
My mom was in the passenger's seat, with
a seat belt on.
We were on the express highway, traveling from Dukem to Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia. The highway had nothing in every direction that I looked
except for the forest. I was nervous because I could barely see cars
on the road. I thought maybe it was Sunday. Dad was driving
fearlessly, taking advantage of the open road. My brother wanted to
talk to my dad, and my dad turned around to answer him. All of a
sudden, the world stopped, and I was numb. At that moment, our car
was spinning, and so would our lives. All I could hear were screams
and the tires of the car skidding. BOOM! It stopped.

The
thick black smoke coming out of the airbag clogged our air passages.
I tried opening the door, but it was stuck because we hit the hard
cement wall that held the road on the small bridge. Dad quickly
jumped out and opened the car forcefully. Everyone got out of the
car. I could hear everyone crying except me…... I felt something
heavy on my forehead. I remembered my dad’s headrest hit it. I
placed my trembling fingers on it and realized that the blood rushed
to it. A throbbing headache started, so I quickly went to my dad and
showed him. I knew something wasn’t right. Sobbing intensely, he
said, “My poor child, this is all my fault.” The pain was severe,
no human can endure it. As I touched it again, the pain pierced
through my body. What I touched felt like jelly.

Driver’s
education should be taken seriously and the lessons that are taught
in the class need to be implemented effectively in order to prevent
numerous deaths. Not only drivers should take this class as drivers
of the car but also as passengers in a vehicle. Before starting a
vehicle, the driver needs to make sure that everyone inside the
vehicle is wearing seatbelts. Knowing rules and laws on the road are
the other steps to protect ourselves from death or severe accidents.
Being familiar with the people we bring on the road should also be
important because it helps us be precautious about our speed. The
lesson that should be taken from my father is, even when the road
doesn’t have cars, we need to always travel by looking at the speed
limit ahead. I learned that I have to always wear a seatbelt no
matter the situation because my injury taught me that.