Vehophobia

There are over 40,000 deaths from car crashes annually in the United States.

.

When I was a sophomore, a senior girl died in a car accident before graduation. Years later, I saw her family on a ghost hunting show. They made all this equipment to try and talk to her, and they preserved her room exactly the same. The accident was with a tree. I heard the car was crushed like a tin can.

.

I wouldn’t drive on the highway for the first ten years I could drive.

.

I once drove past an accident and saw a young girl lying in the road, body unmarked. She looked like she could’ve been asleep.

.

When I was a junior, they brought us into the auditorium and played us a graphic video of the aftermath of some 16-year-old driving recklessly. The kid’s head was open and his brains were everywhere. The car in that video was crushed like a tin can.

.

I won’t drive with a passenger unless I absolutely have to.

.

I once saw a car lit up in flames on the side of the freeway like a mechanical bonfire. The image stayed with me for weeks.

.

When I was a senior, I got in my first car accident. The things I remember most: the sound of impact, the metal crunching, the glass shattering. The taste of the air bag dust in my mouth. They put me on a stretcher and took me to the hospital even though I wasn’t visibly injured. I lived, but the car didn’t. In the pictures it was smashed like a tin can.

.

Air travel is roughly 190 times safer than road travel, but in my experience people sure are a lot more understanding of a fear of flying.