There are going to be lots of things ahead of you in life that are going to be difficult, uncomfortable, and yes even sometimes dangerous. A number of these things will not be optional. Life will just do them to you, and you’ll have to deal with the fallout. Its an important life skill to be able to navigate these type of situations, and also know how to build yourself back up when they happen. You will need this going forward. Also, as you master difficult things, your skills become better at identifying risks, and building mitigation strategies.

Example:

I had a pretty bad car accident due to failing to yield the right of way (I struggle with multitasking)

Knowing this, you can and should change your driving environment. What were these other distractions?

• Radio? New rule, you simply don’t listen to anything while driving
• Talking with your passenger? (you mentioned your boyfriend so I assume he was there) New rule, no talking while you’re driving. If your passenger doesn’t like that, then they can drive and talk to you when you’re the passenger
• Phone? New rule, phone goes on DND when you’re driving.

As you get more confident you could remove some of these rules. Further, you can improve how you prioritize while driving. My wife and I follow the login that airplane pilots do and it helps:

Aviate, Navigate, Communicate

“‘Aviate, Navigate, Communicate’ is a phrase widely taught to aircraft pilots, to remind them of priorities during an emergency. The first priority is to keep the aircraft flying, avoiding undesired aircraft states and controlled flight into terrain. Next the pilot should verify their location and navigate towards a suitable destination. Communication with air traffic control, while important, is a lower priority”

source

If I’m overloaded with stimulus while driving with my wife and trying to negotiate traffic I just need to say “Aviating” and she knows that means to stop talking/distracting because I’m close to my limit. If I’m in an unfamiliar place reading street signs while driving and say “Navigating” she understands that, and many times can just tell me “don’t turn left here, but take the next left”. I do the same for her. Once the needed extra attention has passed, the driver can communicate that and say “okay where were we?”.

So to answer your question, should you give up entirely? I would recommend not giving up yet. Get back in and learn what you need to change about yourself/your environment and develop the strategies to master it. If after that you can drive without fear, and simply don’t like it and prefer other modes of transportation, sure, stop driving entirely.

This is one difficult thing life has handed to you that can opt out of, but if you do now, you’ll lose the education on how to navigate the next one that isn’t optional which will make it that much hard.