Archive for November, 2011
The Never-ending Driver’s Ed
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It was late as I was driving home from work, and there were few cars left on the road. I was about to merge onto a main road and had a yield sign, so like a responsible driver, I glanced behind me make sure I was clear. Well, after my workday I was a little drained, which made me a little lazy, and my “glance” may have turned into more of a “stare.” When I turned back around I was heading straight for the back of another car, which had come to a complete stop at the yield sign.
I remember when I was a little kid in the back seat, watching my dad drive. He looked absolutely crazy as he whipped his head around and snapped it back in a fraction of a second. He’d throw his head back and forth three or four times in a row to merge onto a road, and looked like a pigeon doing it. Now I’m seeing how this technique may have served a purpose. Un-cool as it is, I’m going to have to try the pigeon method rather than the staring method next time, so I won’t have to slam on the brakes and feel that panic of almost hitting another car.
Apparently my driver’s education isn’t quite over. At 23 years old, I still have to go back and study how Old Dad taught me how to merge, parallel park, and drive on icy roads. Though I’ll never tell him this.
Calling All High School Students!!!!!!!
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This is your opportunity to get involved in your school and community to make a difference. We are seeking high school students throughout New Jersey to develop teen driving safety programs and compete against others schools for a grand prize…a driving simulator for your school. Participating schools will each receive a $1,000 stipend to help implement the project and have the opportunity to win cool prizes…while maybe saving somebody’s life!
Application deadline is November 30th—don’t miss out!
> Check out the application at www.UGotBrains.com <
Last year, 19 high school competed against each other and developed amazing projects about driving issues that affect teens. Driving Simulators were awarded to two high schools-Holmdel High School (Monmouth County) and Lenape Regional High School District (Burlington County), but all schools walked away with prizes.
What never should have happened
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I’m making my New Years resolution early this year. Recent events have hit me over the head and yelled, “Reality check!” I need to be a safer driver. Of course, I always try to be safe, but the moment I hear that beautiful sound of a new text message, or my boyfriend’s specially-chosen ringtone, my efforts go out the exhaust pipe. I tell myself, I just have to glance at my phone for a split second, and I promise I won’t text back. Okay, I’m just gonna text back “On my way”— it’s such a short sentence I’ll barely have to take my eyes off the road. And before I know it, I’m drifting into the next lane. Does this sound familiar? As previous posts have made me realize, no text is so important that it’s worth a bloody, fatal car crash.
Last week I witnessed the last hours of a boy, Mike, who was just 16 years old. He was killed on a dark, quiet road when the car he was in hit a tree. Mike was one of four people who were squeezed into the back seat, so he wasn’t belted in. It’s such an innocent decision; when you squeeze an extra friend in the back, you feel so tight and snug that it seems nothing could make you budge. (I’ve been that unbelted backseat person.) It happens all the time, but most of these stories don’t end in tragedy.
When the car crashed, Mike probably flew forward and hit the middle console, rupturing internal organs. I was one of the EMTs in the ambulance with him, along with another EMT, a paramedic, and Mike’s father. Mike’s confused cries for help will haunt me forever, and I can’t begin to imagine how they will affect his dad. With IV fluids, the hospital’s trauma team, and the sound of his dad’s voice, Mike clung on to life for hours. But in the end, it was another untimely death resulting from a car accident.
Although this isn’t a story about texting, it made me realize how fragile life is, and how quickly a car can take it away. A simple decision like squeezing six people into a car with five seatbelts, or texting “be there in 10,” can become the decision that ends my life or someone else’s. If Mike’s unfair death made me see anything, it’s that nobody should have to miss their 17th birthday. I hope this teen tragedy will help more people will think twice before making a bad decision behind the wheel.
> Article about the accident: www.safetysign.com