"The traffic accident rates for 16- to 19-year old drivers are higher than those for any other age group" (California DMV). "Yeah right." " There's no way." "I'm such a good driver, I would never crash." All of these things I have said before. All of these I thought I would prove wrong. I always thought these kinds of statistics were aid by the DMV in order to scare teenage drivers. Well, the DMV proved me wrong last Friday.
Friday morning, I was ten minutes past the time I usually left my house. Only two months into school, I still wasn't used to driving myself to school everyday. No more doing my make-up, eating breakfast, or sleeping in the car while my mother, or another carpool parent, drove me to school.
Two streets away from my house, I realized my left mirror had been folded in, not good. Already late, my anxiety grew as I pulled over and fixed my mirror. The clocked flashed 7:25 on my dashboard, it would've read 7:10, had I not been late. After getting back on the road I drove a few miles and got on the freeway, that was the fastest way right?
Wrong.
At 7:30 in the morning, rush hour had begun, and traffic was building at the same rate of my anxiety. "Thank God I made coffee this morning", I thought, as I sipped out of my mug. The night before I had stayed up until midnight studying for a French and Chemistry exam. As I sped in and out of the lanes [safely], something under a car caught my attention. A brown, soft-looking object was caught underneath a fast moving car in the lane next to me. I thought the worst. Immediately my eyes watered at the thought of any animal being dragged on the freeway. As I got closer, though, the object took shape of a child's blanket, at least I hoped so.
The off ramp of the exit was unusually backed up, of all days. The clock ticked 7:35, which would've been alright, had there not been a huge accident in the intersection around the corner, where all cars were headed. A car behind me honked, telling me to move so that she could make a right turn. Tell me, how does someone move their car when stopped in the middle of a dozen cars? The driver of the BMW in front of me turned around, thinking I had honked at her. Oops.
A huge accident had taken place in the middle of the intersection, a semi-truck and a small family car. I sent a silent prayer hoping they were OK. Finally, I drove up the steep hill towards my high school As I neared the entrance to the lower parking lot, I realized I didn't have my parking pass hanging from my mirror. I reached down to the floor of the passenger side to grab it, and everything happened very quickly.
A huge force thrust me forward into my steering wheel, and then back into my seat. Without even looking up, I knew. I knew I had just caused an accident. Disoriented, I looked up.
The car in front of me had unexpectantly stopped. One second, that's all it took. Just one second and I had become another statistic. Another teenager of the age 16 to get involved in a car crash. A mix of angry and frightened tears fell from my eyes, and didn't seem to stop. Realizing what I had done, I froze, not knowing what to do.
Out of no where, a man tapped on my window.
"Sweety , it's ok. Just climb out the passenger side and everything will be fine."
The graying, middle-aged man reminded me of my dad, he seemed trust worthy enough, so I did as he said. Once out of the car, he reassured me everything would be OK. He guided me to the other driver I had hit. He told me what information I needed to write down. He stayed by my side the entire time to make sure I was alright.
The principle and assistant principle of my high school came toward the wreckage and helped divert traffic. I soon learned that not only had I crashed into the car in front of me, but that car then crashed into the car in front of them. A three car collision. The very first car? It was the same BMW that thought I had honked at them earlier. The funny [maybe that's not the correct word...] thing is, her passengers had been the star quarterbacks of my high school football team. What a story to tell. "Girl injures star quarterbacks day of football playoffs, Friday, October 11th, in a three car collision". How embarrassing.
After a few minutes of questioning and making sure everyone was OK I realized the man had gone, disappeared. I don't know where he went, or where he came from, but he had helped without being asked and left without being thanked.
I would say I owe a lot to that man. I might never know his name, but I'll always remember him. He helped me through my first ever car crash.
He could have been like me, in a rush to get somewhere, minutes ticking down. He could have seen the crash and kept moving on, like I had at the intersection. He could have assumed everyone would be fine and not given a second thought about the wreckage, like I had before. But he didn't. This man stopped what he was doing, stopped on the way to wherever he was going, to help someone he had never even met before. He helped me even though I had not asked.
I am forever grateful of this man. The fact that he never once gave me his name, and only cared to help me through an accident, will always amaze me.
Though I didn't realize it before......I think it was God's way of telling me to be less selfish. The semi-truck crash had been my opportunity to help those in need, yet I kept going. This man did the opposite, he grasped the opportunity and asked for no recognition.
Maybe this is just me looking into something too much, thinking too much. Maybe it was just a man and just a crash. To me though, I will forever remember that day.
I believe this man was an angel, not in the "spread your wings and fly to heaven" way, but in every other sense.
I will be forever grateful of him, for he made me realize that, sometimes, you have to help others, even if the timing isn't convenient.
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