A lot of people believe that impaired driving is the act of driving or operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. While this is true it extends so much further than most people realized. If someone is sick, distracted, on medication, or even tired it can count as impaired driving. This part of impaired driving is highly overlooked by so many people. While drugs and alcohol are the most well known forms of impairment they are not the most common. While impaired driving does cover physical effects it can also be connected to anything distracting a driver. The most common forms of impairment are electronics and even other people. One of the biggest distractions in a car tends to be electronics and even other people. 

Phones are a huge wave of distraction that affect so many people even when they don’t realize, say a text goes off and you glance over to look or you hear the notification sound go off and take your eyes off the road. While these may seem like small moments it can be small moments like these that put other drivers and people at risk. Another overlooked but huge form of distraction and impairment in driving can be other people in the car with you. Say a mother is driving and her child begins to cry distracting her from the road or a car of teenagers is being rowdy while their other friend is driving. If someone takes their eyes off the road it could be just enough time for a kid to run into the street or a car to cut someone off too closely, since a person is distracted they will not have the reaction time that they normally would and may not be able to prevent an accident from happening. These are all huge parts of impairment in driving that are commonly overlooked. 

A huge one that is overlooked but sticks out to me is the distraction that other people can bring along with them. One day in the car with my father he told me a story about what some of his friends in college had done. He told me about how they were driving and all distracted by each other, this caused a crash to occur and one of the boys in the car ended up in a coma. This boy was supposed to be my fathers roommate in college, my father said after his coma he was a more negative person and not the same as he was before. Hearing how impaired driving affected someone so close to me was horrifying, the thing that horrified me the most was how obvious of a distraction it was but how I had never considered it. I never thought that impaired driving could be caused by others just distracting me but now it seems so obvious. After all, I find myself easily distracted by others in school and other public settings so it could also affect me in the car. In order to avoid people being affected in ways like this it is important to educate new drivers on the danger that impaired driving can cause. 

On top of not being under the influence of drugs or alcohol people should also be aware of those in their car and be mindful of the person driving, making sure that you aren’t over tired while driving, and keeping distractions like phones turned off and out of sight. Helping educate these seemingly small things can save so many lives out on the road. People don’t look at their phones or talk to their friends with the intention of becoming distracted, sometimes they don’t realize how distracted they really are. If people are educated on these sorts of topics then it can help them realize that they may have been distracting themselves without realizing.  The personal step I take when driving is always being cautious of the things around me. If my phone goes off I have someone else answer it if it's important, if not I make it wait. I also make sure I am comfortable with the people in my car so I can speak up if they become a distraction. All these steps make the road a safer place for everyone. While it is important to be sober while driving it is also important to clear those other distractions that may cause you to look away from the road. If something is distracting the best thing to do is pull over and deal with it if it really can’t wait. A phone call or conversation with a friend is not as important as a life.