There’s a day last summer that I will never forget. On July 22,
2019, I was on my way to Chillicothe from Rio Grande with my husband,
brother in law and my nine year old daughter. The weather was fine
until we got close to the Chillicothe exits, it began to down pour
with rain. My Dodge Avenger was a light weight car and two of my
tires were bald and needed replaced. I was arguing with someone from
human resources at my job just before I started the drive back home,
so my mind was not on what I was doing. Shortly after the rain came,
I tried to slow down and move into the far right lane of State Route
50, and my car hydroplaned and took us into a complete 360 turn, then
off the pavement, over two hills where we went air borne and landed
on the side of the ramp on the freeway. Never in my life will I
forget the feelings and emotions, much less the last thoughts going
thru my mind as we hit and came to a stop. Then, there were the blood
curdling screams coming from my nine year old, as she had never been
in a car accident in her life.

You see, I am a
33 year old woman, I had drivers ed over 15 years ago. I
had always considered myself a safe and conscientious driver, until
that day. Driving distracted or angry or emotional is never a good
thing. Maybe you have done it before and have gotten away with it or
nothing happened. But, your day will come if you are not more careful
and responsible when it comes to distracted driving. I feel like
drivers ed can definitely help when it comes to things not do
while driving and educating new drivers the things that can happen if
you don’t heed those warnings. People can die from distracted
driving, whether it’s you or someone else. I am lucky that no one
died the day I totaled my car and no one was severely injured, just
bumps and bruises. However, that accident could’ve had a completely
different outcome.

I have learned
to take my time and to not drive if I am emotionally upset or
distracted. I have learned to put my cell phone down and focus on
what I am doing. I thought for the longest time that I would never
get into an accident and it would never happen to me. That outlook is
exactly why it did happen to me because I was being irresponsible and
not taking the lives of my family and other people around me into
consideration. People need to remember that it is not just you on the
road, it is other people and their families too. Take a vow to slow
down, pay attention, use common sense and don’t be distracted
behind the wheel of a vehicle. Tell me, what is a life worth to you
compared to that text message or phone call or radio station?