The message is everywhere, on the radio, on billboards, from our parents: Don’t text and drive. Of course, when we are new drivers, texting behind the wheel sounds like the worst idea, and we swear we’ll never do it. At first it’s both hands on the wheel, eyes always on the road. That lasts a month or so, and then we think we know how to drive. Two hands on the wheel turns into one hand. Both eyes on the road now includes many distractions: changing the radio station, eating, drinking, talking to a friend, or the worst: texting.

My friend got her freedom before I did. By freedom I mean her license, which also meant more freedom for me. We could finally go wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted. At first she was very careful behind the wheel, but after eight months, her driving habits began to change. Her attention was on everything except the road. She’d swerve into lanes or hit curbs because the wrong song had come on the radio and she had to change it immediately. But her favorite distraction was her phone. She’d glance down at it and up again every two seconds. I regret now that I never told her to put it away. I wasn’t driving, and I didn’t want to nag her. I wish I had.

That one text – that one left turn – could have been the end for us. We were in the left turning lane, and she was texting someone. I was on my phone too, but I remember feeling the car begin to turn. When I glanced up, she wasn’t even looking at the road, though she was turning. I heard a horn blare and jerked my head to the right just in time to see the white Suburban slam full speed into my side of the car. We spun around and crashed into a pole.

The next thing I remember is waking up to the sounds of sirens and people shouting. I slowly lifted my head. The door was pushed into my side and the front of the car was wrapped around a pole. An awful smell was filling the car, and smoke was coming from the engine.

Crying hysterically, my friend grabbed my hand and began to apologize. A firefighter yanked open her door and lifted her out. My door would not open, but I was able to crawl out the driver’s side. Immediately I was attended to by paramedics, but I wasn’t able to answer their questions.

My friend had already disappeared in an ambulance when the shock of what had happened began to sink in. I spotted her cell phone lying beside the car, and my whole world began to spin. I couldn’t believe that a stupid text message had caused this mess.

I was placed on a stretcher and taken to the hospital. My chest and arms were bruised and cut from the glass and airbag. I had a gash on my forehead from the window breaking; there’s still a scar today. Thankfully, my friend and I and the other driver suffered only minor injuries. It could have been so much worse.

The cars were totaled. Hospital costs piled up. Physical therapy seemed never-ending. We are very lucky to have survived the crash, but it could have been avoided entirely if my friend had been paying attention to the road instead of texting. That day she put my life, her life, and the other driver’s life on the line – all for one stupid text. If someone had died in the accident, her life would be over.

No text message is worth losing everything.