My name is Ian Goodwin, I am a high school senior going to Sato Academy of Math and Science, and a recent recipient of a driver's license. I am very firm in my belief that while driving, people must be completely present and in the moment, with no major distractions because impaired driving is extremely dangerous, and many cases of it aren't very obvious. When most people think about impaired driving, they think of driving while drunk or high, while this is true, driving on low sleep, arguing with someone in the car, or even changing a song on your phone at a red light is impaired driving. Some of these things may seem normal, but when you are operating a machine that weighs thousands of pounds at 60 miles per hour, both the obvious distractions, and the subtle ones are potentially deadly.

Driving while drunk is all too common nowadays, and has been for a very long time. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 30% of car accident deaths involve drunk drivers, this is too common a thing, especially because of how badly alcohol impairs the functions that are necessary for driving. Also according to the NHTSA, alcohol specifically makes it more difficult to focus on moving objects, and lowers one’s ability to tell when something is dangerous. In typical traffic in some parts of the country, there are constant split second decisions and reactions that need to be made in order to maintain your own safety and that of others. The specific way alcohol debilitates human ability means it is simply not possible to drive correctly while drunk. Although in the moment it may seem easier to just drive because you may think you are fine, it is endlessly less expensive, in potential grief to loved ones, to potential medical bills, and to the overall damage drunk driving can cause, to just simply order an uber, or select a designated driver.

Using a phone while driving is incredibly common nowadays due to our increasing reliance on technology and social media, and in my personal experience, we have had mobile phones for so long that the impact of phone use while driving is almost lost on a lot of people. One thing I have noticed that I believe increases phone use while driving is that newer cars make it so easy to do, my own car has automatic bluetooth connection to my phone, and has dedicated buttons to answer or decline calls, to skip songs, and to change the volume. This is better than actually using your phone and taking your eyes off the road completely, but it is still a distraction, and takes focus away from the road for a few moments. The worst part is that since our cars have this function built into them, it might send the message to the driver that it's okay to be using their phone, because their car is almost telling them it's okay. I also see people at intersections checking their messages or scrolling social media at red lights, sometimes taking a few moments to notice the light turned green. The fact that there is a noticeable time where they are completely oblivious to what is happening on the road shows that during heavy traffic, or going 60 miles per hour on the freeway, that little amount of time they spend on their phone can turn into a terrible accident. The only real way to stop this is to educate people more effectively on how dangerous phone use can be while driving, and hopefully prevent it from becoming a habit in new drivers.

During the process of getting my drivers license, there were a few key things that stuck with me that I believe helped me become such a careful driver, and I believe there is a way to incorporate those things into how we educate new drivers to make sure they don't build any bad habits, or do anything irresponsible. One thing that stuck with me, was that I know a couple of people that have been hit, or involved in accidents with drunk drivers, and hearing their stories of how scary it is, and how helpless they felt knowing the accident was not their fault. Me realizing how damaging such a car accident can be both physically and mentally to the other party involved in it further drives in the lesson, because not only will I always consider my own safety, but after these experiences, I will consider how it can affect literally anybody else that just so happens to be on the road at the wrong time. Another thing that stuck with me was during my drivers education, for study for the permit test, I learned that 1 second of inattention means 45 feet of “blindness” at only 30 miles per hour, meaning looking at a text, or skipping a song, or any type of phone use can be completely distracting for a considerable distance. One of the biggest things that has stuck with me however, is a youtuber that I have seen videos of, who had a DUI a few years ago, luckily nobody was hurt, multiple years down the line, he said that he could have ordered an uber to and from where he was going every day since then, and it still would have been cheaper than all of the court costs, and drivers classes, and fines he had to pay. Now that I am driving and am more educated on how fast things can happen, how costly vehicles are, and the damage impaired driving can cause to people you don't even know, and who were simply going about their lives, true weight of the importance of safe driving has dawned on me, and I will take more precautions than I ever expected to drive safely.

Now, to make sure people learn the proper things during their drivers education, providers of that educational material can make sure to put emphasis on how distracted and impaired driving can affect victims of crashes, this should be done early on in the driving education process as to eliminate any potential bad habits before they even form. If someone realizes that one mistake by them, can cost someone years of recovery, or even take their life, they would probably be less likely to text while driving, or drive drunk, or participate in any kind of impaired driving. Another thing that can be taught early on, after showing people the damage they can do to themselves and others physically, is to show people the financial burden they will have placed on themselves by getting a DUI, showing that one terrible mistake on a night out, can put someone in debt for years, and cost them their license, which they might need for work, or to get groceries, or anything, will likely discourage people simply by the fear of having to deal with any of those things. One last thing that can be taught is that if someone needs to use their phone for navigation purposes, they should sort everything out they need to pay attention to their phone for while they are still parked, and only use the auditory navigational cues most map apps provide, rather than actually looking at the on screen map, as the auditory cues are immensely less distracting than taking your eyes off the road for multiple seconds to see where you need to go next.

Impaired driving can appear obvious, and subtly, and preventing either form is essential to the safety of everyone in our communities. It causes the need for years of physical therapy and recovery, it can cause years of debt, and it can even take lives, all of these not only apply to the victims of car crashes, but also the distracted driver that caused them. The fact that distracted driving is so common nowadays makes it imperative that we better educate people on the dangers of impaired driving so that it never happens in the first place.