What does impaired driving mean? It means that you are behind the wheel of an automobile while being intoxicated or on drugs. It even means you could be texting and driving or even distracted while driving.  So many people don't understand the effects that driving impaired has on themselves and other people. The most common impairments are driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Being under the influence of drugs and alcohol affects your ability to see and focus on what's in front of you. They can slow down your reaction times to other drivers.  You can become dizzy and sleepy, making it unsafe to drive not only for yourself but others as well.

As a little kid I remember being in the car with someone drinking and driving. I was so little that I didn't understand the risk there was. My whole life my dad has been an alcoholic. He has even gotten behind the wheel while being drunk. He has been in car accidents and wasn't injured but still hasn't fully understood the risk he took. Luckily, he managed to not injure anyone else either. 

I wish I could say the same for someone I lost my junior year of high school. His name was Tristen and we grew up together. He was my best friend, like my brother, and someone I loved. He got into a car one night with his friends and and he and another one of his friends didn't make it back home. I have heard there were so many things going on in that car late that night such as alcohol and driving recklessly. I will never truly know every little thing that happened that night. He died at the scene is all I do know and now I will graduate without him.  The choices they made didn't only just affect them. It affected me, their families, and their friends. It ultimately affected all the people they left behind. 

I have sworn I will drive safe and not get into cars with people who are under the influence. That one night changed everything for me. My happiness slipped away and for months I cried and cried. I was depressed. I didn't even want to get out of my bed and it was really hard to go to school. I had to walk into all the places where we would talk together. I had to see people that was also friends with him. All I could do was hold back tears and wait for the day to end. I was only 16 and so was he. It was horrible sitting behind the empty desk of his friend who also lost his life that night.  I will never forget any of those emotions for as long as I live.  

I am now in my senior year of high school and I think about every senior activity we do. I think about how he isn't here for any of them. He won't walk the stage. He won't get to go to prom. He won't get to go on our senior trip, go to college or so many other important events in life.  To me, making those choices are so selfish. They leave the people that love them to mourn their death when it could have been prevented.  They leave people who love them behind to struggle and suffer.

There recently was another incident that happened. He went to a high school in my region. He was a senior in high school as well and he played football and was a cheerleader. He was on the highway and got hit and passed away.  I know exactly how everyone around him is feeling. I went through it and I have been there. Getting behind the wheel is always a risk and being impaired or distracted increases that risk. All of these experiences have changed how I see driving, especially when under the influence.

Drivers education and traffic school courses can help change peoples outlook on driving. They can talk about cases of high schoolers losing their lives from driving reckless. Maybe, just maybe, people can see how it affects their life and the lives of others. When we are young we think we are invincible. We look at life and say, "yeah people have died from driving reckless, but it won't happen to me." Just because we are kids and have our life ahead of us doesn't mean it can't be stripped away from us in one second. I don't know if there is really going to be a way to keep people from making the choices to not drive imparied. People always have a choice. Yes, you can tell them all the things they should not to do, but it doesn't mean they will always listen.

I tell so many people my experiences about impaired driving and how much it has changed my life. That is a role everyone can play and should play. Education is the key. That is all we can really do. Reminders will always help I think about how your life can be taken from you in seconds. Life is all about choices and make the wrong one and boom your life is over. The goal in life is to always make the right choices and if we don't, then learn from them.  I learned from someone else's and it's a lesson I will never forget.