Name: Daeshawn Boyle
From: Waterbury, Connecticut
Votes: 0
From my experience it seems like one of the most common types of impairments among drivers today is texting. While in the car with my mom, I have seen so many drivers texting on their phones while driving on the highway, driving on side streets and stopped at traffic lights. They are so engrossed with whatever is on their phone my mother must blow the horn to get them to move along in traffic or go through the light once it has changed. The most dangerous thing is when they are driving on the highway and clearly reading a text because they are looking down or holding the phone in their hands. There has been plenty of times that my mom has yelled out, “Get off your phone”, while passing them in the other lane. She then quickly apologizes to me for her road rage, but she is correct. This behavior can lead to severe accidents. The driver is not as aware of their surroundings as they should be, which could lead to them rear ending the car in front of them, hitting the median or running off the road and hitting a tree. It could also lead them to getting hit from behind because the driver that is coming up behind them is unaware of their speed or that the driver is distracted. I have seen drivers swerving into other lanes because they can’t control the wheel while they are texting.
Another common impairment is drugs in the form of cannabis, especially in CT. Ever since it became legal in our state it seems like everyone is smoking cannabis and driving. You can smell it while you are driving behind someone on the highway, even if your windows are shut. It is very disturbing. To me, if you shouldn’t drink and drive, you should not drive if you are under the influence of cannabis. Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it doesn’t have an effect on you and impairs your ability to drive safely. It is a know fact that cannabis can affect your response time, by limiting your ability to react quickly. People drive crazy all the time and you must practice defense driving more often than not. Cannabis prevents your ability to do that. Cannabis can also decrease your coordination and impair your judgement. Driving under the influence seems to be a recipe for disaster. This could be just a coincidence, but the number of wrong way driving accidents increased significant in CT once cannabis was made legal. This is right in line with some of the effects that cannabis has on someone. There are also studies that show drivers who drive under the influence of cannabis are more likely to get into accidents and are prone to reckless driving like weaving in and out of lanes and speeding.
With that being said, driving under the influence of alcohol is still one of the most common forms of impairment today. I have noticed that there are now electronic signs that say things like , “You Drink! You Drive! = Handcuffs!”, but they don’t seem to help. There are more drunk driving incidents than before. Driving while under the influence of alcohol has some of the same dangers as driving under the influence of cannabis, if not more. Most drivers don’t know how fast they are going and engage in speeding at speeds that cause significant damage on impact if they hit another car. Blurred vision is another side effect that impairs the driver’s ability to drive safely, preventing them from seeing any cars in front of them or beside them. A big one is depth perception which has caused drivers to rear-end other drivers because they have no idea how close they really are to the car in front of them. Drunk drivers have also fallen asleep at the wheel causing major accidents, which has killed them and others. People under the influence of alcohol are more likely to engage in road rage, causing unnecessary conflict like car chases and violence. All these things are sad, but the one that disturbs me the most is when someone driving under influence hits a child riding their bike or someone that was walking on the street. There have been cases where the driver has lost control of the car and ran up on a curb or sidewalk injuring multiple people.
I believe it is safe to say that driving with any type of impairment is very dangerous and harmful to others and should be avoided. You can pull over to text or wait until you reach your destination to look at your phone. Just don’t drink and drive or get high and drive. It’s just not worth the dangerous consequences.
