One night recently, I was driving home on a road that’s somewhere between a back road and a main road. I’m not exactly sure what time it was, but I know it was dark and the roads were wet. I was just minding my own business and driving along when I see a girl stop her car in the middle of the road. She was trying to make a left turn onto the road I was driving on, but instead of stopping at the stop sign, she stopped in the middle of my lane. I had to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting her. I wasn’t sure what to do. She wouldn’t get out of the way. I could see that there were no cars coming in the other lane, so I decided to get over and go around her. As soon as I started turning my wheel to go around her, she finally decided to turn, almost hitting me again. She was on her phone the whole time.

To the girl in that car, you have no idea how incredibly lucky you are. You’re lucky it was my truck you did something stupid in front of. You’re lucky I was driving the speed limit. You’re lucky I take driving seriously. You’re lucky one of us was paying attention.

There’s no excuse for what you did. You put both of our lives in danger just so you could use your phone. You shouldn’t be on your phone while driving at any time of the day, but doing it while it was dark on a wet road was completely reckless and stupid. If my reflexes weren’t as quick as they are, if I had been going even a little over the speed limit, or if I had been distracted for even a second or two, I probably would have hit you. And if I had hit your car, it would have been the driver’s side I hit. Both of us could be dead, hurt, or in the hospital right now. We’re both incredibly lucky that I was paying attention that night.

For anyone reading this, put the phone down while you’re driving and pay attention. It’s not worth it. If you really need to use the phone, pull over. It’s pretty simple. You may think, “Oh, it’s just one quick text. It’ll be fine,” but you don’t know that it’ll be fine. It could be the worst decision you ever make. You could be the reason someone doesn’t make it home. You could be the reason you never make it home or see your friends and family again. It really is the serious issue I’m making it out to be. I’ve heard too many news stories about fatal wrecks because of distracted drivers. Your phone just isn’t worth it.