Being a distracted driver is no joke. Take it from me. I let a GPS ruin my car and my insurance. Thank goodness it didn't ruin my life, or worse- somebody else's life.
I was a senior in high school when it all happened. I left my grandparents' house for school at 7:00 a.m. sharp, and the last thing Poppy said to me was, "Now don't speed. Don't worry about getting there in time, you have plenty of time. Just worry about driving carefully." I wasn't worried about time, but I also wasn't worried about crashing. Little did I know what was about to happen.
I wasn't used to driving to school from my grandparents' house, but because my parents were on business in Florida, I was staying with Grandma and Poppy for a week. Being as directionally challenged as I am, I turned on my GPS and off to school I went.
Once I was in a familiar area, I decided that I didn't need my GPS anymore. I thought to myself, "I might as well save my battery and my data," so I looked down at my phone to turn the GPS off. I was still struggling to unlock my phone when all of sudden my phone flew from my hand and I heard a scream.
When I opened my eyes, I was staring at white. Dust particles floated in the air, and my airbag was surrounding me.
My reaction? "Oh, shit."
When I finally managed to look through my cracked windshield, I found myself looking directly at the pale-faced driver of the car I'd hit. Apparently I hit her SUV hard enough to spin my car sideways. Before stepping out of the car, I checked to make sure nothing on me was broken. I started with my feet and worked my way up. Legs, check. Torso, check. Arms, fingers, check. Neck and head... check.
I carefully stepped out of my car where witnesses were already dialing 911. As I stepped around the glass that coated the ground, I made my way to the poor lady's window. "Are you okay?" I mouthed. She shakily nodded her head yes.
With her confirmation, I made my way back to my car and managed to find my cell phone on the floorboard. The weird thing was that I wasn't scared or shaken up. My legs were sturdy, my voice was strong, and my head was clear. I only felt numb.
I stepped off to the side of the road to avoid oncoming traffic, and I called Poppy.
"Hey," I said. "Um, I uh, kind of rear ended somebody. Do you think you could come?"
"Are you okay?! Where are you?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," and I told him the street name.
"I'll be right there."
While I waited for his arrival, I watched the police cars and fire trucks show up. When the police man approached me and asked me what had happened, I told him nothing but the truth. I probably could have lied to avoid the consequences of my distracted driving, but I'm just not that kind of person. Honesty is everything.
"So can you tell me what happened?"
"Well," I said, "it's the typical teenage story. I was looking at my phone."
When he started taking notes, I elaborated on my story.
I told him how I'd been using my GPS and that I hadn't been texting. But either way, I was distracted when I didn't need to be, and I could have hurt somebody drastically.
"Do you know why the car in front of you stopped?" he asked.
"No, I don't."
"It's because a school bus stopped to pick up some students. You hit the car in front of you, which then hit the car in front of it due to your impact."
This made everything so much worse. A school bus had stopped to pick up children. What if I would have hit a kid? Or what if I would have hit a car who then hit a student? I could have been responsible for a death or a major injury.. just so I could turn my GPS off. How selfish is that? I was mortified.
With it being so cold outside, the police officer invited me to sit in his heated cruiser. I obviously wasn't going to refuse, so I followed him. I quietly sat in the back and blankly watched the lights of the emergency vehicles blink. After a few minutes of silence, I saw Poppy arrive and break into a jog, eyes frantically searching for me. I pulled on the door handle to greet him, but the door didn't budge. I was locked in.
"My Poppy is here, I have to go to him!" I exclaimed.
After seeing Poppy's face, seconds felt like hours while I waited to be let out of the cruiser.
"Poppy!" I shouted as I ran to him.
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He turned to face me, and a slight sense of relief entered his eyes as he saw my fully in-tact body, but I could tell through the tenseness of his muscles that he was still scared to death. When he saw all of the ambulances and fire trucks, he immediately thought, "She sounded fine on the phone. It was just a rear end. She has to be fine.. But what if she's not fine?" When he didn't see me immediately, his fears intensified.
As I reached him, he embraced me and I embraced him, and we both just shared that moment. That moment of fear, and safety, and thankfulness that I was alive, that I wasn't going to be the next teenage death on the news.
I didn't die, but I very well could have. I could have killed somebody else. I could have injured somebody else. But I didn't. I was one of the lucky ones. But what we all need to remember is that not all of us are lucky enough to walk out with a couple of bruises from a seat belt. Some of us don't make it out at all.
I keep this memory and this lesson in my mind each time I enter my car. I can't keep myself from being distracted 100% of the time, nobody can. However, I can make sure that I'm not distracted for useless reasons. I can keep myself from looking at my phone while driving. Nothing is important enough to take my attention from the road.
I just hope I can show others how serious the reality of distracted driving is. It's not something to be taken lightly of. It's dangerous, and it's lethal.
For this reason, I pledge to never be distracted by my phone while driving again. Do you?
