After building strength to talk about my situation and attempt to help others in the future, I write to show awareness toward the horrific intersection in Plainville on Route 1 where Chili's and Lowe's stand across from each other. This dangerous intersection was recently designed, yet poorly designed.

Traveling on Route 1 south, left turns are illegal here because Route 1 north stands on a hill, therefore travelers going south cannot see travelers coming up the hill and travelers going north cannot see the top of the hill and would not see cars crossing in their path.

July 11, 2008 was the day it felt as if my heart was ripped out of me. I didn't see it coming. It was as if I blinked, saw a clear blue sky, sun shining, then blinked again and saw my engine nearly pushed to my lap, my windshield smashed, smoke in the air, and my right foot twisted so far it was so numb -I thought it wasn't attached.

At 9:22 a.m. I called my mom to tell her I was on my way to work; eight minutes later I stayed awake and was able to call her, nervously saying I couldn't feel my legs. The EMT held my neck straight as I waited for the "jaws of life" to pull me out. Two men pulled me out as I screamed at the top of my lungs.

I eventually had to get my hands tied because I continued to grab my body and grab the men because of the excruciating pain. Later I saw my car that looked like an accordion. After tears, pain, morphine, and X-rays the doctors diagnosed me with a fractured femur, fractured pelvis bone, and a fractured vertebra. With a little Novocaine I got a drill through my shin right below my knee. I could feel the pressure, hear the pain, and after I looked down I saw a big screw coming out both sides.

The screw held a 20-pound weight off my leg overnight because the bone was so upright and broken it had to be stretched out before surgery. Throughout that night I couldn't sleep; I constantly pressed the button for more Novocaine. The next day I had a rod put into my leg from the beginning of my hip to the middle of my knee cap, with two screws on the right side of my knee cap. The pain made me revisit the crash second for second. I simply asked, over and over, "why me?"

On the outside, my scars show the physical trauma my body went through by this accident. What the world cannot see is the mental and emotional problems I now experience.

I remained in the hospital for one week, during which I was awoken every two hours for medicine, had to be sponged bathed, couldn't use a real toilet, couldn't get out of bed, lost 10 pounds, and cried so much I thought I'd have no tears left.

Just one month after moving out, I moved back home on July 18, one day before my birthday. I had to rely on my family for everything. Each night I was awoken every three hours for medicine. July 19 was my birthday; I spent it in a hospital bed in the middle of my living room unable to celebrate with my twin sister.

I stared out my window day after day looking at all the people going by, wishing to walk again, wanting to be myself again. I cried day after day, night after night, because it wasn't just my car taken away from me or broken bones, it was my life turned upside down.

I walk with a limp, I have a bone that will never heal, I am limited in more ways than anyone can imagine, and what's the worst is I am dealing with the death of who I once was. One wrong turn, one careless mistake by someone else, turned into a lifetime of struggles for me.

For the rest of my life I will wake up and take one step and remember the accident minute by minute. For the rest of my life I will feel pain when it rains. For the rest of my life I will question whether or not I can complete a task due to being unable to stand for long. For the rest of my life I will see multiple doctors. And for the rest of my life, although I want to get over it, I will never forget the day I lost who I was.

Driving was something I always enjoyed and today I don't feel safe. Drivers constantly continue to take this illegal left turn, gambling each time, putting themselves and others in serious danger! Every day I drive through this intersection and witness one, two, sometimes three cars bear to the left, illegally. Something must be done, and done soon because nobody should ever have to experience the hardships and complications I've had to experience this past year.

KRISTEN WELCH, 21, of North Attleboro, attends Johnson and Wales University and works at the Ninety-Nine Restaurant. The site of 74 crashes in a three-year period, the intersection of routes 1 and 152 in Plainville has been identified by the Department of Transportation as the 18th most dangerous in Massachusetts.