Knowing there is no way out of my situation, I sit there frozen in my wet demolished car. With my mom on the phone repeatedly saying, “Are you okay? I’m on my way!”
  

With the rain beating on the metal of my car, and the sound of police sirens wailing up the street towards me, I sat there stunned, and overwhelmed with regret. “I shouldn’t have been looking at my phone,” I thought. “What if the person I hit is severely injured?” “You’re so stupid Taya.”
  

Eleven teens die every day as a result of texting and driving. It is the cause of 21% of fatal car accidents. 94% of teens know the dangers of texting and driving, yet 34% of teens admit to knowing the hazards and doing it anyways. I am now considered part of that 34%.
 

As my mother arrived to the scene, and the police began to question me, everything became a blur. I had yet to see the person I had collided with. Every second that passed, my stress levels rose more and more. I could feel the sweat running down my spine, and my heart pounding out of my chest.
  

After what felt like an eternity, a policeman came to notify me that the victim I had hit would be fine, and only suffered a minor concussion, from hitting his head on the window. Even though it wasn’t the best news, I could still feel a pound of stress lifted off me.
 

That day is a day I will never forget because not only did I put myself in danger, I put others at risk as well. Even though I am aware that most teens will continue to text and drive, and even I have contributed to that percentage, I look back on my relative decisions, and I am certain I will never text and drive again, and I will use all power to pursue the same moto on my fellow piers. So that the chain reaction may die. The phone CAN wait.