The Impact of Impaired Driving

94.5% of the US population aged sixteen and older drives. An estimated 94% of car accidents are caused by human error. That’s a difference of only 0.5%. Impaired driving is the leading cause of car accidents in the US. Many people believe that impaired driving is only driving under the influence of alcohol. But that is far from the truth. Impaired driving is driving under the influence of anything that reduces focus and reaction time. This included phones, alcohol, and drugs.  

The most common type of impaired driving is texting and driving. With the increase in technology and social pressure to respond quickly, this dangerous driving has skyrocketed. Texting while driving takes your eyes off the road and your mind off driving. It only takes a split second to cause an accident that could change your life or someone else’s. It takes a moment to go from having a good day to a tragedy because of impaired driving. 

While texting and driving is dangerous, it is not the only type of impaired driving. Driving under the influence of alcohol is also impaired driving. Alcohol is considered a downer. It affects the occipital lobe, frontal lobe, and temporal lobe. These parts of the brain are involved in decision-making, vision, speech, and hearing. This means that under the influence of alcohol, people lack judgment, causing them to be more reckless.  When driving, you must be at peak attention. You must always be paying attention to your actions as well as others. When under the influence of alcohol, without being able to fully understand your actions, driving is a very bad call for you and the other drivers. 

Another example of impaired driving is drugs. Different types of drugs have different effects on the brain. Drugs could be used for recreational or medical purposes. Both have side effects on the body that could impair the brain through decision-making, reaction time, and focus, depending on what type of drug they are on. 

Everyone believes that these types of stories would never happen to them until it does. Last year, two kids, a junior and a senior, who went to my school, got into a head-on collision and did not make it. It was the night of prom, and the driver went to pick up the passenger from the dance, and on the highway, drove over the median and collided with another vehicle. This sad news struck the school. Not only were they kids, but they were kids who went to my school, and one of them was in my grade. The details of the crash are not released, so I can not say whether or not this is an example of impaired driving, but this event devastated me and will always stick with me. 

While many know what impaired driving is, they don’t understand the extent of it. Driving impaired has become too normalized because of a lack of awareness of the consequences it can bring. Many teenagers would rather drive under the influence than call their parents for help. When people learn to drive, it is a critical time to create and start proper habits. Driver education classes should talk more about the impact of impaired driving by showing videos of what can happen, as well as having drivers who have made that decision speak on it.  Schools should have speakers come talk about the dangers of impaired driving. This dangerous pattern needs to be brought to the attention of all drivers and should not be normalized. We need to make drivers think twice before getting behind the wheel impaired, and remember what can happen if they do. 

As a student, I can help stop impaired driving by bringing awareness to my friends and family. Even if that means that I offer to drive more places to help prevent an impaired driver behind the wheel. I could create signs and place them around the school. I could talk to my administration about getting a guest speaker on safe driving. We need drivers to remember the extent of their actions and that it can happen to them. 

As a part of my community, I believe that there can be more done to prevent driving impaired. I believe that there are some safeguards in place, but there could be more. I think that more phone regulation while driving should be in place. I believe that there should be a place where people can place their phones to get the car to start to prevent texting while driving. Overall, I think the biggest thing that needs to be done for impaired driving is an awareness of the seriousness, starting from the time when kids are getting their learning permit to start good habits and behaviors.