This weekend I was driving up to the city when I lost control of my car.
I was not speeding. I was not texting. I was not under the influence, snacking or even distracted by friends in the car.
I was driving by myself, during the day, on a relatively straight stretch of highway 17, when I hit a slick spot and began to veer too close to the vehicle to my right. While attempting to center myself in my lane, my back wheels slipped out from behind me and I crashed head on into the middle divisor. I bounced off backwards and spun around a full circle and a half until I smashed again into the middle divisor with my back passenger side corner. I came to a stop on the left-side shoulder facing against the flow of traffic with one of my headlights a good ways down the road and my bumper a bit nearer.
While my car is damaged and it was an extremely terrifying situation, I am so incredibly fortunate. I was not physically hurt at all. I got whiplash after the fact and am a bit shaken up about the whole thing but I know I could have been much worse off.
My hope in writing this is to show that even when you’re driving carefully, it can be so incredibly dangerous. While clearly something did go wrong, otherwise this wouldn’t have happened, I wasn’t driving recklessly. I know many people text/talk and drive or eat and drive and feel that it’s not dangerous, or that it couldn’t possibly happen to them but had I not been paying attention or if I had looked away at the wrong moment I might have hit that car in front of me, or gone off the road.
Please don’t let this happen to you. It was absolutely terrifying and I am so lucky to be completely unharmed. Drive safe and be aware.