To some people, impaired driving only applies when people are drinking and driving or on drugs and driving, but it has a bigger meaning. To me, impaired driving is when you are not able to give 100 percent of your focus to the road; any little thing can impair you while driving, which means if you are texting and driving, drowsy, or even eating and driving. These actions render you unable to react to the sudden changes and dangers that may be on the road.
On the road today, there are many dangers, but the most common is texting and driving. When texting became popular, drivers began to risk their lives to respond to a text message that could have waited until they got off the road. This is because many drivers are addicted to their phones and have urges to see what is going on their devices. Many people think that taking your eyes off the road for one second is fine, but the road conditions can change in less than that, and it increases the chances of crashing or near crashes by 95 percent.
In this day and age, many people don’t see what consequences can be waiting for them on the road. On the news, many crashes and deaths are caused by drunk drivers, but one incident stuck with me. On the news one night, a young athlete was drinking at a party with some of his friends, and after a couple of drinks, he decided that it was a good idea to head home driving. Having many people around to take him home safely, he decided that the best thing was for him to take his car. While going home, he started to speed and, not being able to react fast enough because he was drunk, he crashed into another car. During this, he took the life of a young woman and her dog because during the collision, her car caught on fire and she burned alive. This story haunts me because that day, one bad decision took the life of that young woman and her dog, but also stripped him of achieving his dreams of becoming a professional athlete. This made me more aware that anything can happen on the road, and I can try to prevent that from happening to me by not driving impaired by any means necessary.
Traffic school and driver's education can help change the attitudes and behaviors around impaired driving because it will educate people about things that they may not know, like texting and driving increases their chances of being involved in an accident by 95% percent, or how one million arrests are made each year in the United States involving people driving under the influence of alcohol and or drugs. What makes these programs effective in the real world is that they encourage people to make better decisions and be more aware and cautious about the potential consequences of driving under the influence or in any hazardous situation.
Things I can do to prevent impairment include spreading information about the dangers of impairment and how the road can change in just a second. Even though many people go through driver's Ed and many other learning things, they can skip over the important things like the road changing every second and how cautious you have to be when driving. Also, if I see someone who has been drinking and or doing anything that might increase their chances of getting into a car accident, then I would either convince them not to drive and take something safer like an Uber, take their keys, or, if I'm able to drive them, I will. Lastly, I can share stories of other people that have sadly been through the tragedies of drinking and driving or any other imparment to try and persuade them to be more safer and think twice before driving These actions may not seem like much, but something as little as taking someones keys away when they are drunk or under any influence or telling someone to keep their eyes on the road and put away their phone can save the lives of the driver and the people around them from one deadly mistake that can happen. Something that you should always remember is that the road is never one hundred percent safe, and anything in a split second can happen and alter your life or the people around you. All it takes is one second for things to change.