I’ll never forget that day.

It was Christmas, and it was the first time I saw my dad really cry.

After hours of silence and confusion, trying to wrap my young brain around why my dad was so distraught, my parents explained that our family friend had passed away in a motorcycle accident. 

He was wearing a helmet, but he crashed into a tree at high speeds. He was pronounced brain dead on-site. 

That was seven years ago.

Three years later, I would experience a car accident for myself. 

I was on my way to see my grandmother for the last time, as cancer was killing her by the second. 

Someone ran a red light. 

I never got the chance to see my grandmother; instead, I spent my day in the emergency room with possible head, neck and hand injuries. 

This year, I would lose yet another close family friend in a motorcycle accident. A broken neck took a father away from his 10-year-old twin sons and a grandfather away from his newborn grandson. 

People make dangerous decisions on the road constantly, as there are approximately 99 fatal car accidents in the U.S. every day. The number of accidents caused by teenage drivers is nearly three times higher than that of adult drivers. 

As teenagers, we’re already programmed to be reckless — you have to make mistakes to learn from them. But as new drivers, it is important to be safe and make smart decisions on the road. 

When on the road, every drivers’ life is on the line. Running that red light for giggles with friends is not worth losing a life. Speeding around turns is fun until it kills someone. Swerving between lanes gets you places faster unless it ends in a hospital trip. 

Think twice before making decisions on the road. The adrenaline rush is fun in the moment, impressing your friends is euphoric — but, it is not worth killing yourself, someone’s mother, someone’s brother, someone’s best friend or someone’s daughter. It isn’t worth losing someone you love.