If you’ve dreamed about car accidents, according to professional dream interpreter Laurie Levenberg, it’s likely that something in your life has come to a sudden (and potentially messy) halt. As she explains, “Cars take us places, they move us forward, so they usually represent something that’s happening and moving forward, whether it’s a relationship, a career project, or a health goal.”

So a car accident means the sudden end—or perhaps a long pause—of any situation in your real life. But it can also refer to literal accidents or mistakes you’ve made, with Loewenberg noting that if you’ve “crashed” something in your life, it would make sense to dream about crashing your car.

And sometimes, she adds, our dreams can also be a reflection of our emotional state. In some cases, dreams of a car accident can also be related to an energetic or emotional “crash” you are experiencing in your life (ie, feeling burnt out or exhausted).

That said, here’s a deeper dive into more specific scenarios, depending on what exactly happened in your dream.