Remember The Day That My Tire Broke Down

Being a new driver is good because you can get to places without someone such as your parents to drive you somewhere. The downside of being a new driver is not knowing when is the time your car needs maintenance, so here is my terrible experience of how my left-rear tire broke down and you can avoid the same mistakes as I did in the past. The story took place at my second high school at Elbert County Comprehensive High School's parking lot and the Bowman Highway, The highway that mainly takes me home. The timeline that took place was on the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth of August of 2021.

I was in the first semester of my senior year of high school and during the first days, I was riding the school bus to get home which takes about fifty minutes to get to my house in Bowman, GA. If you were to drive, it would take about thirty minutes from my house to school. I was riding the school bus for two academic years and my experience on the school bus was absolutely trash. During my first time on the bus, I realized how rude the bus driver was. It felt like the driver was very strict for example, someone was sitting in my seat, so I kindly tell the person "Uh, excuse me that's my seat." that way the person can switch seats but then the bus driver yelled at me "HEY, GO HAVE A SEAT IN THE IN FRONT THERE!" something along the lines of that, just for someone sitting in my seat and telling me to sit somewhere else. I think he thinks that I was arguing with the person that was sitting in my seat, even though I was kindly telling them. This made me furious and depressed because I got yelled at for an unfair reason and I was thinking "What the hell was that for bro." "I was trying to tell that person that he or she was sitting in my seat." So with that not only the bus driver was rude, but the other kids that were also riding the bus, and most of them were middle schoolers and not gonna lie they were annoying at times, but at least the kids left me alone so I'm not being bullied. The loud talking is what it annoys me and I said to myself "Taking the school bus sucks." "I need to get a driver's license so I don't have to ride this stupid bus anymore." I was getting so tired of riding the bus and having to wait fifty minutes to get to my house, dealing with a very rude bus driver and a bunch of lousy middle school kids causing drama. The good thing is that on July 13, 2021, three weeks before the start of my senior year, my older brother and I went to the Georgia Department of Driver Services to get my Class D Provisional Driver's License. I did so by doing two driving tests, all I did was do back and parallel parking and that's it. After that my brother said, "Wow, that was quick." I also didn't expect to be that quick either. I was expecting to do both tests but also driving on the road, merging onto a highway, and switching lanes but luckily I didn't do the extra three. The front desk revoked my Class CP Instructional License and wait for one month for the Class D to arrive in the mail. When I first received my Class D license in the mail on August 12, 2021, I decided to start driving to school and get home and not ride the school bus anymore. I asked the office "Hello, I would like to get a parking pass for my car." so I can park on-campus which costs twenty dollars per semester.

On August 25, 2021, it was two forty-five in the afternoon after school, I walked to the school's parking lot and got in my car. I was about to drive home and get out of the parking lot, the parking lot was full of cars also wanting to go home as well. I was waiting in my parking spot to wait for the cars to pass me until the coast is clear. I get out of my parking spot and start driving toward the exit of the parking lot. The parking lot's entrance has three separate lanes, one is for the entrance and two others for the exit for both turning left and right. Splitting between the entrance and exit lanes is where the curb was which my left rear went over on. So as I was about to drive out I turned too sharp and early to the left. My left rear tire went over the curb and I was thinking "Oh shit, that's not good." the curb was approximately half a foot in height, and my tire started to deflate as I drove home. As I was driving I was saying to myself "Dude I don't know if I can still drive or not." so my stupid ass brain decided to ignore it like it was not a big deal. The car felt different and imbalanced while driving, and that's a sign that the car needs maintenance immediately.

After I got home from the deflated tire, I neglected to tell my dad that my tire deflated from the curb. I think it was okay to drive on a deflated tire the next day. The next morning, I was able to go to school on a flat tire without breaking down, but the car still felt the same as it was from yesterday. But when I started to drive home that's when things took a turn for the worst.

"Image of busted tire."
-Image By Author

After I took my senior pictures for the graduation, I go to my car where the left-rear tire is still deflated. My stupid brain was like "I wonder if I can still drive home." thinking it was still okay to drive home. I was about four minutes into driving and just got on Bowman Highway and all of a sudden the left-rear tire was starting to break down. As it broke down, the car felt like it was vibrating a lot. It sounded like the exposed tire was scrapping against the road concrete and it probably made sparks. I can imagine the other cars behind me saw the whole thing unfold and probably saw the sparks. I was saying to myself "Oh shit shit shit I have to pull over!" my immediate reaction was to pull over to the side of the road and call my dad for help. I told my dad on the phone "Dad. My tire is broken and I need you to come help." my dad said, "What, your tire broken." "How come you keep going?" "How come you don't call me right away?" I can tell by his tone that my dad was disappointed in me for not calling him early before I started driving out of the parking lot. So I hung up with my dad and I was thinking that how stupid it was to keep going when my tire was deflated "Bruh I shouldn't kept going, that was a very bad idea." And then my brother texted me "Call a tow truck." I didn't want to call a tow truck and have them tow my car and take it to the auto shop. So I waited for my dad to show up for thirty minutes and he showed up and said "I don't know why you no tell me early so I come and fix it." My dad brought a car lifter to lift my car and use the bolt wrench to take out the broken tire and replace it with the emergency tire.

After my dad replaced the tire with an emergency one he said "Next time when there's something wrong, call me okay." "Don't keep going it very dangerous." He told me to drive about forty miles per hour back home and the speed limit on the road I was driving on was fifty-five miles per hour. When driving forty miles, there were a lot of cars behind me. "Dude look at all the cars behind me." it's like a whole lineup of cars like there's a traffic jam.

My dad and I managed to get my car back home safely without calling a tow truck. My mom and brother were disappointed in me like my dad said like "Be careful next time okay." On the same day, my dad went to the auto store to get a new tire which cost forty dollars according to what he said. He took out the emergency tire and replaced it with a new one. After that, I was able to drive to school and back home the next day and onward.

This terrible experience taught me a very valuable lesson. This could've gotten a lot worse I could've gotten severely injured or even worse death. Whenever there's something wrong with my car, take action immediately. I should have not turned left too early, that's why my left-rear tire went over the curb instead of going around it. If I was to call the tow truck to tow my car, the repair fees could've cost more money than just replacing the tire. So hopefully this experience can teach you a lesson so you don't have to go through the hard way as I did.