Three years old: that’s how old I was when my mom took me for the first time to CJ’s final resting place to decorate his grave.  CJ was her student, he was seventeen, about to graduate high school,  had just celebrated prom, and decided to race a friend after a late night of hanging out with friends. This was impaired driving. 

Three months ago I hugged a tearful friend as she wept over the loss of another friend, Angelina. As she described the tragic accident, it felt all too familiar. Angelina and some of our other friends had been at a party. There was alcohol involved, and the five of them decided they were safe to drive: they were not. Four survived with injuries, Angelina did not. This was impaired driving. 

Three days ago my younger brother was involved in a car accident at the fault of a sixteen year old driver who took a dangerous and illegal turn with four friends in the car.  My brother is ok, but I’m not sure I am. Until I was eleven, and no longer allowed to go to my father’s house, I spent much of my time trying to protect my little brother from the dangers of reckless and impaired driving. Despite our presence in the car, my biological father would drive intoxicated so confident to the point that he would resist the safety of a seat belt. When I would feel out of control and fearful I would focus on what I could control. I would ensure my little brother and I wore our seatbelts and I vigilantly watched the road. Now, years later, in spite of my best efforts and my noble promises, my brother was still placed in harm's way and feared for his life when an overconfident sixteen year old impulsively decided to gun it in an effort to impress his friends. Both of these were impaired driving.

These painful and jarring moments that have left me committed to responsible and safe driving.  Awareness and defensiveness have been my greatest focus since getting my license and getting behind the wheel. Many people think drinking, drugs, and phones, when asked about impairment, but impaired driving can have several other causes including fatigue and passenger distractions.  Essentially it is driving recklessly while distracted by anything. 

Inexperience and pride are a toxic combination and one that most young drivers wrestle with daily. Perhaps the greatest culprit in all of this is overconfidence. As a teenager, I see cocky drivers swerving wildly through our school’s parking lot, speeding past stop signs, and constantly juggling their phones as they drive. Drivers can often be irrational with their decisions and over-cocky in their abilities leading to unsafe practices on the road.  In an effort to try to minimize impaired driving, and increase safety, driving schools should be a requirement. Too often I hear my peers scoff at driving school and laugh at the cars labeled “Student Driver”, but this is just pride.  This fear of being seen as unpopular, weak, or less than drives their decision to avoid drivers training and throw caution out the window. If driving school were a requirement, it could easily eliminate the first issue of pride in this toxic combination as all new drivers would be in it together. 

Along with that, the school’s curriculum should focus on visceral reminders of the consequence of distracted driving.  The more a driver is aware of what “could” happen, the more likely they will be to try to prevent it. There is no greater teacher than personal experience, so it would be beneficial for driving schools to offer personal testimonies, guest speakers with impactful stories to help the students become more aware of the outcome of their impulsive decisions.  The student driver is more likely to remember a face and a person they listened to and spoke with than they will ever remember a video. We need the message of safe driving to stick, we need people to remember it, always. 

I know that I can only control myself, and encourage others.  So, after seeing my mom struggle with CJ’s passing, witnessing classmates heal from painful injuries, losing friends all too soon, and fearing for my own safety when I was I child, I have committed to drive responsibly because I want to be a part of the solution. I’m calling on all of my peers to join me in this cause because quite frankly impaired driving is an epidemic that needs to change. 

Today I’m making three promises, and I encourage all drivers to do the same. 

If we can commit to these three promises, our roads would be a safer place.