Driving is an experience most people have on a daily basis. An unfortunate side effect of this shared experience is the fact that most deaths every year are caused by driving incidents, especially those caused by impaired driving.

To me impaired driving means those who drive while having something distracting them which is not too far off from the actual definition of impaired driving. is the title given to those who caused driving accidents while under the influence or distracted by something else other than the road. Many believe that impaired driving is a label for those who drive under the influence or just for distracted drivers but it is a label for both types of accident causers. People might believe this because the word impaired is too broad for people to automatically pinpoint that it includes both kinds of drivers and due to not many driving schools showing different examples of impaired driving other than driving under the influence. Due to the inability of many to detect impaired driving it leads many to drive while impaired and it leaves others unable to call out impaired drivers.

Countless people that I personally know have stated that they’ve driven while feeling tired, while on their phone or just driving while talking. I believe that these distractions are the most prominent in the teenage years but for most drivers the biggest distraction is alcohol. In 2023, 12,429 people were killed by drunk driving according to the NHTSA, way higher than any other distracted driving deaths reported by the NHTSA. In my driving course my instructors stressed the importance of not driving while under the influence for the potential harm that it could cause to the inebriated driver in question and other drivers on the road or pedestrians. An example given to me by my driving instructor was Jacqui's horrifying story in which she was hit by a drunk driver causing her to be engulfed with flames burning her body entirely to the point in which she was covered in scars more than she was normal skin. Meanwhile the drunk driver was left relatively unharmed and all he faced was some time in jail. The story shed light on consequences of driving while inebriated; because the driver was drunk, he wasn't aware of how fast he was going and ended up hitting Jacqui. Inebriation also causes blurriness, slower reaction times, coordination issues, cognitive functions decline, and false confidence all of these side effects of intoxication have caused accidents behind the wheel. With blurriness caused by alcohol people can't tell if the thing in front of them is a guy in a red shirt or mailbox, even small amounts of alcohol in the body’s system the brain's reaction time slows; this makes it difficult for intoxicated people to adjust with disruptions on the road, coordination between the brain and the body slows, which could prove fatal if an immediate stop is needed, cognitive functions are slowed this causes risky behaviors like speeding, and false confidence which leads a drunken person to believe that they can drive recklessly safely. All these behaviors lead to the unfortunate deaths of many people including Jacqui.

I have always thought those who drove while impaired were selfish and my encounter with such a driver only solidified it. My sister was driving me to school, and all was normal. We took the same roads that we always take, and my sister drove at the speed limit. She had done everything right and yet she hit the side of a commercial van. I was in the passenger seat and got the worst affliction of injuries due to the distracted driver. The driver was more focused on turning in the yellow lane than he was about hitting someone else thus ignoring the right of way rules causing my sister to hit the side of his van. His distractedness caused my father, sister and I to gain hernias that required months of physical therapy to ease the pain caused by them and as my mother put it, he could’ve ended our lives due to his impairment. This moment in my life caused me to be more cautious when in cars even when not driving but most of all I had a hard time getting behind the wheel because even though my sister had done everything right, she still got into an accident without it being her fault. When behind the wheel I became more aware of those around me especially those who are wanting to turn into the yellow lane.

In my driving school they made sure to emphasize the importance of not driving while under the influence of alcohol, but they did a poor job at showing the true importance of how dangerous other types of impaired driving are. I believe that if driving schools pushed the harm that could be caused by other types of impaired driving that more people would call out the drivers who recklessly drive. By shaming those who drive while distracted it could lessen the number of accidents caused by distracted driving.

By knowing more about impaired driving, I can make sure that I don't drive while distracted on the road and by also speaking up about impaired driving, especially to people that I know that drive imperially on the regular, I can lessen the risk they bring to themselves and others while driving.