Young Writers Society

It only takes one second. For everything to go dark. For the noises around you to stop and everything to disappear. One wrong move, that’s all it takes. One wrong turn of the wheel it’s blank. Never lose control, it's easy they claim. But millions die a year to the crashes. Watching crashes before your eyes, seeing so many right in front of you. It’s terrifying. We put trust within strangers expecting we’ll be alright. But sometimes even having trust can’t save some. It could depend on the person, the area, the weather. Car Crashes terrify me. Not that I’ve ever been in one but I’ve seen tons even at my age of seventeen.

I've experienced the taps of bumpers of course. I’ve seen the front of cars collide into the back of others. I used to often ask my dad “Why do people trust each other while driving?” I never understood. We can’t trust ourselves outside of the car. Why do we trust ourselves in big machines that could cost someone else so easily?

Think about it when we're outside of our cars we have to protect ourselves. Strangers are frightening without a weapon and I consider a car in certain aspects to be a weapon. In an instance I do compare it to a knife. You might not think this way I mean of course we experience different things each in life. While you might have been in accidents but aren’t scared of this. I do believe that a car could cost a life faster than anyone getting injured by a knife. The whip of a wheel it’s quicker than the slash of a knife. It doesn’t even take a minute, mere seconds, that’s it.

One moment I’ve never forgotten is seeing someone swerve into a pole. They were in front of us for a good ten minutes. Upon first inspection I believed they were perfectly fine I mean I was only ten so who was I to judge really? But as they continued to drive they constantly lost control at first very slightly a slight swerve to the side that they caught and got back to the right side. As this progressed they began leaning towards the edge of the road,of course I thought maybe they were pulling off. They were driving too fast for that though, they hadn’t slowed as they were driving. When they took the final swerve it was harsh and quick. We had kept our distance throughout the whole thing because of how noticeably concerning it was. Watching the pole fall was probably the scariest part. The road felt empty and silent until the pole finally hit the glass. We’d pulled over just as others around. Calling for help, we couldn’t see the guy's condition. I think my parents had parked that way just so my brothers and I couldn’t see what was happening. I remember being frightened. It had not affected me but thinking about it, it could’ve taken a turn along those lines. If they would have been any closer to us we could have been what they hit. What if’s all though we're told not to think of them when it becomes a what if we could have been hurt, are hard to avoid.

There have been experiences since then as well I live in the middle of an intersection, one of the worst places to live. Every year we have crashes. Before I was born a car went through the living room to our house, due to going so fast they started to skid. The yearly occurrence happens year around as well. Crashes in the snow, rain, and sun. It takes so little for someone to crash.

It leaves a lasting impression on people as well. It always takes one bad memory to refer to an object rather than millions of good ones. I believe that’s how it is for anyone. Our bad experiences greatly influence how we live. For instance, you fall out of a tree when you're younger and damage your leg pretty bad. That sticks with you and affects the way you see climbing tree’s or maybe even your views on heights. It’s the same way with a car in my mind. Driving with the window down screaming random songs that’s a good experience, one crash could affect your views only seeing that everytime you're in the car.

Cars had progressively gotten worse in my opinion. Driving isn’t something I want. The power a person has in a car began to terrify me. Everytime we heard a loud crash outside the house we knew what it’s from. Going through more houses, another pole, a tree, our backyard. That’s all I remember when I sit behind the wheel now. The memories and that specific memory. The screeching, the swerving, the loss of control. It’s turned me into a backseat driver because all though I don’t drive nor have my permit I know when it’s becoming unsafe. When we’re almost going to collide, we’re too close, going too fast. The same panic comes back again. So now the senses replay everytime I try sitting behind a wheel as well. Turning it slightly too far could cause me to hit the strangers behind me. Hitting the brake too hard could cost the back end of the car. It’s a never ending list of concerns. Driving that death machine around.

Kids around me, the same age as me, thought it was the weirdest thing and always asked “Don’t you want that freedom?” I’ve always told them I’m not ready for that big of a thing. They’d always naturally find that weird, I mean most teenagers my age love that independence. Being able to go where they want as they please. It’s a milestone of course. But some of us aren’t always ready.

After seeing what happened when the wrong person got behind the wheel I realized I truly didn’t crave that freedom. It wasn’t a necessity to me even at that young age I knew I’d never like it. All I could imagine was me being the one hitting that pole. The screeching being caused by me. Because I lost control so quickly. What if instead it wasn’t a pole but yet someone's house like mine. Destroying the one thing they cherished? These memories and that specific one had turned it to a nightmare.

Reassurance was never the issue either. Everyone had faith I’d be able to drive great. But I didn’t want reassurance. They couldn’t reassure that everyone around me was safe or that I was safe. Again I say we never trust a stranger walking down the streets. Why should I trust one behind a wheel? Nobody’s really a good driver. Yes, I know we're all human nobody’s perfect at anything. I understood that but even the ones that claim there “the best of the best” have the chance of getting injured. It’s one wrong turn into another object, person and everyone is at risk. We never get to decide what really happens to us in life. We can always try to prevent it but in the end nobody’s ever particularly safe. Walking down the street we are at risk, going into work, shopping, driving. Yes, there’s always risks but there's ways to prevent yourself from being hurt or injuring others. There's precautions everyone takes. I understand that. This is mine.

It goes through my mind like a hurricane everytime I’m in any car. The screeching but instead it’s happening to us. Not because of alcohol or drugs but because nobody’s paying attention. It reminds me of bumper cars sometimes how they jolt not too violently but enough to confuse you. I wish watching that, that it could've been like bumper cars. Enough to jolt you but not enough to injure you. I feel then it would be less frightening. You wouldn’t see all of these news stories about how somebody got injured or killed because someone decided to not look and rather text. The hospital wouldn’t be so filled all the time. Growing up I always thought how the family must feel.There losing their son, father, husband, brother, cousin. I tried to put myself in their situation once but you can’t do that. You have to have been through it to know how painful that is.

The most memorable thing in my opinion is how lud the sirens were. Your memory changes what you saw overtime but the sound stays the same. I had started asking questions towards my mom. “Why’s it so loud?” covering my ears my older brother had done the same. “Why’s that lady freaking out, he asked?” My mom tried explaining it to us. It was obviously harder to explain to young children who hadn’t known much on this subject. We were on our way to a park when this had happened. But as young as we were him being eleven and me ten at the time we got distracted quite quick by this situation. The noise was always in my memory because that had been my first time that close to an ambulance. I had piled questions on my mom while my dad was trying to see if the guy was alright. Igt got louder and louder as others pulled over to check the situation out. I hated that especially all you heard were sirens and doors opening and slamming shut,people chattering. I knew then and there I never wanted this to happen to me.

Going about it when I was younger it didn’t affect me as much until about three years later when I turned thirteen. I mean being eleven and twelve I didn’t really think about driving but it was three years till I could so it began to pop into the back of my head every time I was in the car from then on out. Everytime my mom got too close to a car I made a noise and she would look at me and say “You haven't even started yet and you're already a back seat driver.” It spooked me so I began to always be on alert. They found it weird just like I said my friends had. It is quite a sight to watch a thirteen year old pretend to stomp on the breaks at almost every stop sign. But I was always worried. I didn’t wanna hear the sirens up close again nor did I wanna be the reason they were coming.

Don’t forget it only takes one second. For everything to go dark. For the noises around you to stop and everything to disappear. Driving will always be considered unsafe to me as of that experience. It doesn’t seem fun as everyone states it is. I don't wanna be the cause nor do I want to be what is affected. Seeing so many people get injured from this is something that will always affect me. Weather it’s from substance abuse, texting, talking to me I’d rather be in the passenger seat then risking someone elses or my own life. It’s too big of a trust for others. Too many what if’s everytime I’m in the driver seat. So please remember it only takes one second. Not a year, not a month nor an hour. One singular thing and it could cost a person's life.