I heard the crunch of the car, the impact flung my neck forward hitting my steering wheel. I immediately look up at the scene bringing tears to my eyes, realizing what I have done. In shock that just a few moments ago, I was listening to the radio past capacity, and looking down at a meaningless text message about the One Direction concert. A recipe for disaster? Or just a stupid naive teen?

I look back at the stalled smashed jeep in the middle of the road. I try to turn my car around as it chugs along, like a deer with a broken leg. Eventually my engine breaks down near the scene, and I get out of my car. I am greeted by a screaming 50 something year old woman, thankfully unharmed. I am so embarrassed I can’t even mumble out the apology I owe her.

I think back to my basic rainy Sunday morning, I left my friend’s house around 9:30 in the morning, grabbed a coffee from Tim Horton’s and made my way down the too familiar road to my house. Looking down at Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter like always when driving, occasionally looking up to make sure I was still in control. Until I find myself flipping my wheel to the left to stay away from a worse impact than what happened.

“What were you thinking?!” she screamed, “Did you not see me?”

“I . . . I . . . thought you were moving, why were you stopped at a flashing yellow?” I responded.
“We can have the cops discuss this” as she fumbled out her phone, and dialed 9-1-1.

Crying, I pulled out my phone to call my parents, thankfully they were only ten minutes away. I frantically told them the crossroads and looked over to my right at a sign reading, “Apostolic Church of Auburn Hills”. For some reason, I am not quite sure about, I felt calmer and the feeling of regret faded as the feeling of gratitude rushed over me. A man who was just walking to church, ran over and gave me a big bear hug. He told me, “It looked like you needed one” which was entirely accurate. He assured me that everything was going to be okay, and how it was just car damage. He told me he saw the entire accident, which made me think, what if I didn’t look up at the moment he was crossing the street? What if this accident happened just a few seconds later? Would this stranger who is being so kind to me, be dead right now?  Is it possible I could’ve been responsible for taking someone’s life who was just walking to church? All of these questions clouded my head as I tried to contemplate how nice this man was being to me. The more he comforted me, the more I felt better about the accident, but at the same time felt like a total felon.

Before I knew it my parents sped over to my side. My parents hugged me, and told me how happy they were that everyone was okay. I realized then how grateful I am to have parents such as Jerry and Elizabeth. I told them what happened, how a stupid mistake of looking down at my phone almost jeopardized others’ lives, and my own for that matter. Instead of scolding me, they realized I knew what I did was wrong, and continued to tell me everything will be okay, it was only a car. Of course my dad was angry at how much the cost of the damages would be, but he got over it after I apologized what it felt to be a million times. 

The policeman asked what happened, I explained how I was distracted, and did not see the woman, still shaking, I apologize to the lady. The policeman gave me and the woman a ticket. She began to yell at the officer how it was all my fault. Making me feel worse about the situation, I agreed how it was entirely my liability. However, he continued to write up the woman’s ticket. She received the ticket for impeding traffic, and for being stopped at a flashing yellow traffic light, I received my ticket for the inability to stop in an assured distance. My parents kept telling me, I got off easy with just a slap on the wrists; and if the lady were hurt I would have been in a lot more trouble with the law.

This is one of my favorite mistakes in my life, not only because no one was hurt, but that I did learn from the incident and that I can proudly say I no longer have my phone near me when I operate a vehicle. I always wanted to be treated like an adult, but how could I ask for that when texting and driving was still a part of my bad habits?  I believe my mistakes in life has shaped me into the woman I am today, and have taught me lessons to grow up and learn to never make those mistakes again. I am appreciative that no one was harmed in the accident, and I believe God really was looking over me at the time. The irresponsible act of texting and driving has taught me to stop being an adolescent who thinks nothing bad will happen. In a way I am grateful that I had this wake up call to realize how sheltered and naive I was, and how teens are still children.

It saddens me I had to have a moment like this in order to see how dangerous texting and driving can be. I realize now that I am not invincible, and I have to be aware of others around me. I am not alone, and need to care for other’s lives. I could have taken that woman’s life, the innocent cross walker, or even my own and I thank God for no harm on that Sunday morning. I have grown up from that event, looking down at a meaningless text was the most childish thing I can do, while operating a dangerous vehicle. I know now I will never be that person again.