I lived through this

All blogs must start somewhere, and this is my beginning. I am Nicole Meredith, 18 years old and live in Louisville, Kentucky.

It had just turned July 4th in 2008 when I was heading to my good friend Laurens house. It was a typical summer night, just like any other. The music loud, sunroof open, and I was on my phone. I was driving down a major highway, where I was having conversation via text message. Now, like many people, I have an iphone, which is a touch screen, and this requires looking down while typing in the words. I was telling my friend how my night was going and what I wanted to do that night. When I received a message back, I was reading then "quickly" responding, when I realized I was not driving on smooth asphalt anymore.

It started to get quite bumpy, so as I looked up I realized I was driving halfway on the road and halfway in the grassy median. Like anyone, I freaked and tried to drive back on the highway, but when you are going 70mph you don't always get the response of the car you want.

My wheel locked and I was slamming on the breaks. My car started spinning out of control, the noises of glass shattering and tires rubbing, I thought my life was going to end. Suddenly I hear a huge "bang" and look up and realized my car was crashed into the median ditch against 3 barriers blocking me from ongoing traffic on the other side of the highway. I couldn't believe what had just happened, so I called Lauren to tell her.

We were on the phone, both freaking when I told her I had to call my parents. I knew I could not tell my parents what had actually happened, they would have me grounded forever. I called my parents telling them I had totaled my car and I needed them to come get me. By that time 3 cars stopped to see if I was okay and the cops had arrived. Luckily, I had no injuries. When my parents arrived at the scene, I told them a bug had flown into my car which caused the wreck. My mom, an insurance agent, said she had heard stories like that before so I knew I was safe with my story.

It wasn't until April of 2009 that I received a message on facebook from Seventeen Magazine, apparently they were looking for a girl my age to write a story on 'texting and driving'. Of course, I jumped on it immediately. Not thinking of what I would tell my parents, I just thought being in a huge magazine would be totally cool. I got the gig, and eventually had to explain to my parents what really happened, and I was grounded for a month.

After telling my parents, it really made me start thinking of what I actually did. TEXTED while I was driving. When I look back at it now, I realize how stupid it was. When it happened, I thought, "I just got into a car accident!" but after thinking about what I did, I realized it was not an accident, it was a choice. I chose to put myself in a stupid situation that could have easily been prevented if I had only realized what was more important - life over phone? The picture is very clear to me now.

My point in what I am trying to start is... I am like anyone else my age. I love to go out with friends, listen to good music, shop until I am completely out of money, and have fun. There is nothing different from what I did than what anyone else could do. I had been texting and driving since I first got my license, I never thought I would get into a car accident, I thought that's what happened to everyone else. But what people my age need to realize is it could happen to you, just like it happened to me.

This is the start of something big in my life, and I hope you can share the experience with me!