is one of the most widely misunderstood, yet, paradoxically, also the most prevalent reason that car accidents happen among all age groups. The technical definition of impaired driving is driving while under the influence of something that alters your perception of reality, and most understand the basics of what causes it- drugs, alcohol, and marijuana being the big three. It's entirely reasonable to believe that impaired driving ends there, since when asked what kinds of things impair one's perception or ability to function, drugs, alcohol, and marijuana would be the top responses, if not the only ones you would receive. However, there are many other factors that can impair one's perception, and therefore many things that can cause you to drive while in that state. For example, if one texts and drives, they cannot see the road, cannot focus properly on the actions others are taking, and cannot react in time to get themselves or others out of danger should a situation happen that would require it. These effects are very similar to two things: the effects of things like drugs and alcohol on one's ability to drive, and the requirements you must meet to be driving impaired. This is part of the reason that driving while impaired is so misunderstood. Impairment implies being under the influence of drugs, and while driving under the influence of substances is still a problem, driving while impaired is a much broader term, much more common, and therefore far more dangerous. This is where the actual definition of impaired driving differs from the common definition, in that driving while impaired is driving with any type of negative effect on your perception, ranging from simply forgetting to wear your glasses while driving all the way to texting or using drugs while driving.

I also used to think of impaired driving as only driving while under the influence of substances, but a story that my very own driving teacher told me completely changed my definition of what impaired driving was. It was a story about his son, and he told us that he was an amazing driver. His son was 18 when the accident happened, and he was just about to get his full license, but he didn't have it yet, so he received special permission from his workplace to drive between the hours of midnight and 5 AM. It was one in the morning when it happened, and the son had been at a party all night with friends, having not slept at all by the time 1 in the morning came around. He had work that day, and he had a very early shift so he couldn't have waited and gone to sleep before driving. His father, my driving instructor, had tried to convince him to take the day off, but he refused and drove out anyways. It was during this time that he briefly fell asleep at the wheel, swerving out of his lane and hitting an 18-wheeler head-on. My instructor's son died, and not because he was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or was even a particularly poor driver; he died because he was tired. That's what really changed my view on impaired driving- the fact that it could happen to me. I knew I would never get behind the wheel of a car while drunk or high or on my phone, but getting behind the wheel while tired? Driving to school in the dark after a poor night of sleep? That was entirely possible, and, as my driving teacher reminded our class, could be deadly. I decided then to not only try to get better sleep before ever driving but also suggesting an alternative when someone who is clearly too tired to drive wants to get behind the wheel.

Because of this discrepancy between what impaired driving actually is and what it's thought of as, many people drive while impaired without even realizing it. The most dangerous and most common of the types of impaired driving by far is impaired driving due to fatigue. Fatigue is one of the most common ways to drive impaired mainly because of the lack of stigma surrounding it. It's almost considered normal to drive to school or work at 6:00 in the morning still feeling half-asleep, but that can be incredibly dangerous. The three main mental effects of not getting enough sleep are forgetfulness, brain fog, and a propensity to be more accident-prone because of the previous two effects. All of these can be deadly behind the wheel, but, for an example, say someone didn't get enough sleep and they can't pay attention to the road due to brain fog. This could lead to them potentially missing a traffic sign, especially if it's dark out, and could lead to an accident because they didn't stop if it was a stop sign they missed, or they hit a tree because the sign denoted a sharp turn and they couldn't react in time. What makes driving while fatigued the most dangerous, however, is the lack of stigma surrounding it. Most everyone knows that you shouldn't text while driving or drink while driving, and will rightfully scorn those who do it, but that same attitude is not brought to those who drive while tired. This makes it far less likely for people to avoid driving tired and increases the risk of car crashes due to one or more tired drivers on the road.

Driver's education, however, is nearly the perfect solution to this problem. If someone wants to get their driver's license, no matter what state they're in, they have to have some kind of driver's education. Many drivers' education classes only touch on impaired driving, as mine did, but many driver's education classes are not being taught by teachers with stories that have as much impact as mine did. This is why we should include more curriculum in drivers' education warning about not just distracted driving, but also impaired driving. While in this essay I mainly brushed on the effects of driving while fatigued, there are tons more common things that impair people's driving, like over the counter drugs, some examples being over the counter pain killers like ibuprofen, or cold medicine. If more people were aware of how common impaired driving is and how horrible the effects can be, there would be a major decrease in the number of deaths because of this manner of driving. We saw the same things with smartphones too; once curriculum was added to driver's education courses warning against the effects of texting while driving, the amount of distracted driving deaths decreased significantly. These programs, while they may be slightly less effective speaking solely in terms of driving while fatigued, tend to make people less likely to knowingly engage in behaviors that could impair their driving. So, while it may not prevent people from driving to work or school after getting a slightly poor night of sleep, driver's education courses could definitely prevent deaths caused by those who do things like take over the counter medicine or have had an extreme lack of sleep for the past day or few days.

As for me personally, the most impactful action I can take is to not drive tired myself. I currently only hold a learner's permit, so for now there will be someone with me when I drive to make sure that I don't make any deadly mistakes, but I speak more on when I get my full license and can drive by myself. The best thing you can do as a driver to make the roads safer is to drive more safely yourself, which also includes only driving when you aren't impaired by any substances or physiological symptoms. Spreading the word about impaired driving can also make a world of difference, even if it's just to close friends and family. When you talk about the effects of impaired driving with them and all the ways it can manifest, it can make them less likely to engage in those risky behaviors. Less engagement in risky behaviors makes you a much safer driver, and, by proxy, makes the road safer for everyone travelling on it.