As you sit in your room, listening to music, your phone vibrates. It’s a text message from your best friend Alex saying, “Let’s go out.”

You instantly get up and run to your parents asking if you can go to the movies to see the Martian at 10:20 PM with Alex. Ensuring that you will be cautious and safe, Mom and Dad allow you to pick up Alex and go to the movies, knowing you will be out past midnight.

Instead of going to the movies you decide to just drive around for an hour or two. After picking Alex up, you first stop at Sheetz to grab both of your favorite snack, macaroni cheese bites, but as you both get into the car you totally forget about buckling the belts. As you are on Frye Farm Road, you both turn up the radio and sing to your favorite song “Hit the Qaun.”

Heading towards Beatty County Road, you are now driving 80 MPH in a 35 MPH zone. But, nothing stops you now.

You are on your way towards Saint Vincent College on the back road, where you decide to pick up your cell phone. It’s a text message from your boyfriend saying “I miss you.” As you pick up your cell phone to text your boyfriend back, you start to swerve off of the road. The radio is too loud for you to hear the truck coming towards you. There is a collision, and both you and Alex are ejected from the vehicle. Now there is only hope that you both survive.

Thinking that everything was okay and that you were at the movies, your parents received a visit from a state trooper explaining what had happened. They are scared, worried and devastated. There is only hope, hoping you and your friend will survive and have a future.

Was it worth it? Would leaving your loved ones behind really be worth it when you could’ve turned the radio down a little, put your seat belts on, turned your phone off for a little while? Who is your boyfriend really going to miss? Who is your little sister going to look up to for guidance and words of courage? Is it worth lying to your parents?  A couple decisions that you didn’t see were bad, all turned into regrets.

According to www.teendriversource.org, nationally, 963,000 teen drivers were involved in police-reported motor vehicle crashes in 2013, which resulted in 383,000 injuries and 2,865 deaths. That’s one in every six teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19.  Car crashes are caused by being distracted, texting behind the wheel, and not wearing a seat belt. Be aware of your actions take on the responsibility. Let’s be legit, car crashes can happen to anyone of us.