Part of the high School experience usually involves getting a driver’s license. Along with this privilege come responsibilities. Along with the fun and independence a license provides, there can be accidents. Senior Jersey Hollabaugh and junior Christian Nagle have dealt with this firsthand.
Q: Explain what happened in your accident?
A. “I was going down 16th St. after I got out of school on the second day. I came to a stop sign on an avenue, there were cars parked too close to the stop sign on every side and even drifting up, I couldn’t see right or left—so I just went. I looked up after I was starting to go, and I T-boned another person, and their car had to get towed,” Hollabaugh said.
A. “We had just gotten home from Martin’s, and I grew up on a hill. We pulled into the driveway. My mom thought she put the car in park, and it was not. Essentially the car began to roll down the hill with me strapped in my car seat and no one else in the car with the doors hanging wide open. I’m back there, and don’t even know what’s happening. All I see from the backseat through the windshield is me going backwards, and I’m like, ‘Are we leaving?’ It rolls down the hill and the car somehow gets stuck, not by being crushed by two trees, but the doors caught on to trees so the car didn’t go backwards onto a highway,” Nagle said.
Q: Was the accident your fault?
A. “In a way it was because I had to stop at a stop sign and the other car had the right away, but at the same time, there were cars parked too close to the stop sign,” Hollabaugh said.
A. “I would hope not, because I was strapped in a car seat. If it was anyone’s fault, I would say it was my wonderful mother,” Nagle said.
Q: How did your parents react?
A. “It’s actually pretty funny. I’m sitting on the wall crying, and all of a sudden I see my dad’s landscaping truck. He just happened to be working. The house just happened to be two blocks from where I crashed. He was going to Lowe’s to get supplies, and he drove right past my crash scene with a fire truck. They stopped since they’re one of my family friends, and I started crying, like: ‘Oh my god, where’s my dad at? He’s going to freak out.’ Next thing you know, my dad starts coming up the hill, and he’s speeding because he sees my little green car with other cars everywhere. He just looked at me and was shaking his head, so I was hyperventilating because I thought my dad was going to ground me for life or take my keys,” Hollabaugh said.
A. “Both of my parents got out of the car at the same time. They were running down the hill after the car, and my mom got her foot run over and crushed,” Nagle said.
Q: What took your focus off the road?
A. “It wasn’t really focus. It was just the cars that were parked close to the stop sign,” Hollabaugh said.
A. “It was just my mom forgetting to put the car in park,” Nagle said.
Q: Finally, what has the accident changed for you?
A. “I don’t drive on the avenues. I avoid them completely. The only avenue that I will drive on is 15th Stt. I park on St. Mary’s Hill, and then I’ll turn at the bar. Then there’s 15th St., it’s a straight shot and there’s a four way stop sign so, I will crash there,” Hollabaugh said.
A. “I know to always put the car in park,” Nagle said.
