Teen Topics: Car Troubles

Spring break was very memorable for me this year. Besides receiving a long needed reprieve from school, my parents finally let me start driving my car alone after I’ve had my license for a year and a half. Of course before I was allowed to venture out into the open alone, I had to listen to my fair share of lectures on driving safely, making sure to stop at stop signs, never using my phone while driving, and not letting loud music distract me. While these are all valid concerns associated with teenage driving, driver’s ed and frightening stories associated with teenage driving have made sure that I am fully aware of the negative consequences of such actions. This week however, I was enlightened to a less touted trouble of driving.

On Wednesday, I received a call from my mother asking me to pick up my father whose car had stopped on his way to work. He had called the towers and was waiting for them to pick up his car. I pulled up behind my dad’s car and asked him why his car had stopped. There hadn’t been anything wrong with his car before, nor did the car need any maintenance. There was a gas station at the end of the street, and my dad, being the busy person that he is, often lets his gas levels get dangerously close to empty. I asked him if his car could have stopped because he forgot to put gas in it. I went to the gas station where they sell containers that allow you to put 2 gallons of gas inside and have a special nozzle so that you can put the gas inside the car. 15 minutes later, my dad’s car started and he drove off to work.

As a teenager, I’ve never been told about how dangerous it can be to forget to put gas in your car. Your car can stop in the middle of a busy intersection and can even cause an accident. Many people may think this is an obvious thing, but often times busy schedules can prevent us from remembering such small things as putting gas in our vehicles.