Driving Distracted Can Be Hazardous To Your Health - Part 1

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I was rushing, as usual, to get all three boys loaded into the car and leave for school. Everyone was dressed and wearing shoes. Everyone had brushed their teeth. I made several trips to the car to carry out all the bags, backpacks, water bottles, and snacks.

In my purse, I carry my daily planner and a small notebook. I got in the habit of carrying my pocket-size notebook years ago. I always have it with me so I can jot down things that I need to do or don’t want to forget. I always thought this was a great idea to help me stay organized, until today.

Today, as I stopped at a red light, I remembered something that I wanted to add to my to-do list. Then I dropped my pencil. As I reached down to get it, I didn’t even realize that my car was moving until BANG! I jumped in my seat and looked up suddenly. There was my car, pressed against the back end of a large truck in front of me.

My mind was fuzzy about what had just happened. In my haste to do several things at once, my foot must have drifted off the brake. I must have rear-ended the car in front of me at the light. My eyes jumped to my rear view mirror to check that each of my sons were safe. I could see that they were fine and straining their necks to see what was happening with large, curious eyes.

But that morning I didn’t just rear end a truck at a stop light. My car got hooked onto his hitch. It was 7:43 a.m. I was late for school and attached to the back of a truck. I was lucky that the man that owned the truck was kind and understanding and even luckier that he was able to push my van off of his.

With no damage done to his truck, I apologized and thanked the man. I then slid back into the driver’s seat with my ears burning from embarrassment. My six year old questioned me, “What HAPPENED Mom?” I answered him as truthful as I could. “I wasn’t paying attention to driving as well as I should have and I bumped into that truck.”

Next it was my four-year-old son’s turn to scold me. “You should pay attention, Mommy. It is not good to bang into other cars.” I pressed my lips tightly together as I rolled my eyes, thankful that my children couldn’t see my face.

Once I was freed from the truck, I started again to drive to school. I carefully stopped at the next red light and as I sat there, I realized that the light of the gas gage was glowing. My gas tank was on empty! Now I had 15 minutes to get my son to school and I needed every one of them. I hoped that I wouldn’t have to park, get all the kids out and walk into the school to get a tardy pass for my son. I hoped that I wouldn’t run out of gas with three small boys in 95-degree weather.

As the light turned green, I gently accelerated and tried to drive as attentively as possible. It was then that my two older boys began to argue and fight with each other. The baby started to cry, frustrated with being in the car. Oh, my head was pounding! I took a deep breath and felt a trickle of sweat drip down my back. Here we go.

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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.