Walking to the parking lot after school, I looked up from my phone just in time to notice a car backing out of its space, heading straight towards me. I had to jump out of the way, my heart racing, as the driver, completely unaware, was distracted on his phone. He never even looked up. This moment forces me to pay attention to what was happening around me- the chaos of a high school dismissal: cars inching forward into the road, drivers swerving into lanes, and almost everyone had a phone in their hand. When I finally got into my own car along with my sister and her posse of friends, I set my music and AC before setting off into the craze. I noticed again and again how I'm more aware now, as I could have seriously been hurt. But he didn't even notice, nose buried so deep in choosing the perfect song on his phone. I get in my car, closing the door as my sister and her friends pile in. I noticed again and again exactly how many people were on their phones, drivers and passengers alike. Even at a stoplight later, I had to honk at the driver ahead of me, their nose buried in their screen.

The entire afternoon left me wondering: What is so important that someone has to be on their phone while driving?  Or worse, how short have people's attention spans become that they can't sit at a traffic light without reaching for their phone? Those questions plagued me until I was home, and decided to start researching.  I wasn't missing anything on Snapchat or Instagram. Okay, I thought to myself, maybe it's attention spans. And, it was. I learned that distraction- especially from phones- has become the largest and most dangerous form of driver impairment today.

Impairment used to be thought of as drunk or drugged driving, by alcohol, weed, or harder substances that clearly affect the brain. But this modern impairment goes far beyond these substances. It now includes cognitive, visual, and manual distraction, and even fatigue, all of which reduce a persons ability to react, focus, and make good decisions behind the wheel. In many states, distracted driving kills just as many people as impaired driving from alchol. And unlike alcohol or drugs, distractions like phones are available constantly and socially normalized. 

A few hours after my research spiral, I went out to dinner with my mother. She rarely drives me anymore, since I had gotten my license a year prior, but as she backed out of the garage, I realized she hadn't queued up a GPS or music. I noticed she started to fumble with her phone as we were driving through the neighborhood, so I took it from her and set it up. We had plenty of time- so why hadn't she set it up before driving? Later, when my sister had texted her, she instinctively grabbed for her phone again. I had to grab it from her hands a second time, nervous for her already, so erratic driving. I realized that this pandemic of phones didn't just affect teens- but adults, too.

This brings up the truth. Texting and phone usage are the most common impairments affecting drivers, and they're so dangerous because they combine different types of distractions. A single text can pull a driver's eyes off the road, a hand off thewheele., and their mind no longer focused on driving. They might as well have just put on a blindfold to the world around them. Yet millions of people do this every day.

Impairments like drugs, alcohol, phones, and fatigue all have something in common- their impact on attention and decision making, the most important skills a driver needs. Impaired drivers take longer to see danger, drift between lanes, brake late, speed without noticing, etc. They often don't realize the impairment placed on them, which is why so many people are confident using their phones.

Reflecting on what I saw that day at school and with my own mom, I recognized that driving is one of the few everyday tasks where just a moment of inattention can permanently change someone's life. My near miss in the parking lot could have been a completely different story. But people always assume it won't happen to me. The truth is, it can happen to anyone. Impairment doesn't always look like slurred words or stumbling- it can look like a glance at your phone. 

These experiences have made me look up more often- both between the wheel and in daily life. Tech and stress will always be a part of the world, but so is the responsibility of keeping yourself and others safe. If more people recognized the real dangers of modern driver impairment, maybe we would all pause before reaching for our phones and assuming that tone small text doesn't matter. Because it does.