Whenever I’m waiting to be picked up from anywhere, or just telling my friends or family something and I know their driving, I will always say: Drive safe. Driving safely is something that can make or break lives, you can save lives by driving safely, but you can end them just the same. The car I have waiting for me is a beat up Buick. That car has seen at least 3 accidents that I know of, and still came out with minimal damage to it. When I think about driving safely, I think about my dad. He’s a good driver, sure he has his moments–everyone does. Last winter, we still had our 13 year old expedition. My dad was on his way home, and a car swerved out of control. The expedition was totaled,  but my dad and the other driver were both able to come home safely. 

Whenever I think about impaired driving, there’s a sting of anxiety that follows with it. Impaired driving isn’t just driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, it’s also driving distracted, driving drowsy–so many things play into impaired driving. On average, 11,000 people die from impaired driving. It’s disregarded so heavily, so many drivers will say ‘Oh it’s just one drink, I can still drive’ and completely jeopardize their lives and others by going out on the road impaired. 

Driving impaired in any capacity is dangerous, it doesn’t matter if it’s drugs and alcohol or texting and driving. Texting and driving and driving tired is just as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol. Driving with fatigue is one of the most dangerous types of impairment, allow me to share a personal example of this. Over the summer, me and  my family piled into my mom’s tesla and began a 40 hour journey to Texas. My mom and stepdad took turns driving, during swaps we’d move people around, relax a little bit, charge the tesla, then keep going. We were in Texas, it was around 2AM, we’d just gotten to my step-aunt’s house. While we were still on our way, my mother had begun to fall asleep. I was half-awake in the backseat but I could feel the tesla slowly drifting. My mom was talking to my stepdad later and had said ‘I was falling asleep, it was bad.’ From then on I’ve always had a sharpened perception of driving tired. 

Driver’s education has really helped expand my knowledge of all types of driving impaired. Any form of traffic school can seriously help change and expand the perspective of driving impaired. These programs really help expand knowledge, teach about what not to do, and provide solutions that are effective and clear. Anything is better than driving impaired, you can save lives by driving just a little safer. 

I can set an example, not just for myself but for thousands of others by driving safe. Whenever I’m behind the wheel, driving home, I always have my phone shut off, with my driving focus turned on. I usually hook up my Bluetooth on my phone to my family’s Mitsubishi, select a playlist and stick with it the whole time. Not once have I ever grabbed my phone while I was driving to change my playlist or anything. I intend to remain a firm believer in not driving impaired. Nothing is more dangerous than driving under the influence and or texting and driving. Thousands of lives are jeopardized purely by making an uninformed decision. 

If I could share one message that everyone could hear is that: No text message is that important to be on your phone while driving. The world can wait until after you’ve finished driving, you don’t need to pull out your phone and catch up while you drive. Just by  making one small change you can save thousands of lives annually and make it home safely. Above all, it matters what you do on the road. I wish with all my heart that people would drive better, not cut people off, be patient, keep their phones out of reach and so many other things. Make little changes today, save more lives tomorrow. I’d like to share a song lyric from an all time favorite band, the killers. The lyric is from their song somebody told me: “It's not confidential, I've got potential.” We all have the potential to be wonderful drivers, who drive safe and spare lives every day on the roads. Just drive a little safer.