Impaired driving is the question. Does impaired driving prevent people from driving well? Does it influence someone’s actions while driving? Or does it put people in harm's way? It is not an or but an and; the answer to all these questions is yes. Yes, impaired driving prevents people from driving well. Yes, it influences someone’s actions while driving. AND yes, impaired driving puts people in harm’s way. If this answer was straight forward then why do people still drive under the influence of drugs, alcohol, and our phones? It is not about misunderstanding the education we get but it is about the people who get that education. Everyone has to go through the same exams in order to get your driver’s license. Some people care more about learning the materials, but most people rush the process to get their license as fast as possible. It is about people being careless and some are willing to put other people’s lives in danger without realizing it. That is the danger. 

In the growing world of technology, cars and what is in our hands are more technologically advanced. What we are holding is the growing danger of impaired driving in this era. Just the “Bing!” of a phone can distract us from looking at the road to our phones. For just a second—but that single second is enough to get into a car crash. Young adults and teens are especially affected by this growing danger. The young generation are so connected with their phones that they feel something is missing without them. 

As a society, we need to increase awareness about phone distraction and enforce laws that have been put in place. Making sure we do these things whether by guilt tripping them or by increasing fines will be the number main factors in decreasing the number of crashes happening each day. I believe that having stricter criteria in driver’s education will also result in a better outcome for everybody. For example, when we do take driver’s education we should make sure that the person taking the test is actually the one taking the course (especially if it is online). In addition, we should make sure that the 30 hours is actually spent studying the course and not doing something else whether it is through cameras or lockdown browsers. It is just like an education for a degree. Through covid we have seen grades have dropped because people were too distracted during online school. Thus, having stricter regulations that prevent people from getting distracted while doing driver's education will help in the future. Furthermore, talking to people regularly about safe driving puts an outside pressure on them to avoid any severe outcomes. It is peer pressure but for a good reason. Making sure my friends get home safely by offering to drive when they are drunk or tired is one way I can prevent any harm to the people I care about. It is already too late to do anything when you get into a car crash; regrets and fear start to come in. I hope people will learn from their mistakes and never do it again. However, that car crash can be a costly mistake. It can end up taking someone’s life away that most people will not forgive.

Something that I will never brush off are drivers not looking at their surroundings when making a turn. I am a runner. As a consistent runner, I have experienced a lot of things with drivers. There are a lot of drivers who tend to only look left when they are making a turn to the right. Most of them see that the left side is clear and start to move their car before looking right. Waiting for the crosswalk sign is not enough for runners. They always have to pay attention to cars. Unfortunately, my teammates have almost gotten hit by a car more than once. Even when I walked, I almost got hit. Drivers who do not even acknowledge what they did wrong or are looking at their phone distracted are people I can not forgive. Thanks to many of these experiences, I made a vow to myself that I will never become a driver like them. When I drive I triple check my surroundings every time I turn. If I see a walker or runner coming, I make sure I give them enough space to pass in front of me, even if it means backing up for them. Every time I start driving my phone shuts off any notifications I get while I am driving. Preventing any distractions while I am driving will dramatically decrease my chances of getting into a car crash. For the safety of myself, my passengers, and for the surrounding people I make sure I am a safe driver. We all need to remember that driving is a privilege not a right.