When you hear impaired driving you may immediately think of driving drunk or high. Although both of those are very true to impaired driving an even more serious issue that's popped up in the younger generations is texting while driving. This is a normalized thing among us to the point you will often be in a car with your friends and see them doing it multiple times in even a 5 minute drive. When you confront them about this they say “hey i do this all the time” or “ Don't worry I know how to drive” Instead of putting the phone down. Once I was in the car with a friend while she was texting and I had to scream at her as she almost rammed us into a pole from distracted driving. This sadly isn't the only example I have of almost crashing from distracted driving. Even I at times struggle with it, wanting to change my music while driving or text my mom. The issue is this has been even more normalized within the few years us Gen z kids have started to be on the roads. The addiction to our phones has played a big part in this. Now i've talked about it being a gen z issue, but it's not just us. I've witnessed my mother and grandmother do the same things we do, having issues with texting and driving and responding with that same “I know how to drive”. The issue of this is the normalization of it, seeing nothing wrong with it makes it spread even more so. In America over 400 people a year die from texting while driving, with this number growing each year. Texting while driving isn't the only thing we've normalized these past few years but also driving while intoxicated or high as well. The effects of drunk driving often end in death or injury.It's such a huge issue that 34 people a day die from drunk driving, 12000+ a year. Not including the 800+ a day that are injured from drunk driving each day. From that 1-4 of those drivers are young teens, this shows the normalization of this between our younger generation. The disconnect between the repercussions of their actions causes them to not even think about it as something bad. All they think about is having fun rather than the fact they could ruin not only their lives but the lives of everyone else on the road. This is extremely dangerous for us, we drink and drive without a second thought with no fear of death or injury. Back to the normalization of this, I've witnessed multiple of my peers post videos of them drinking while driving or post pictures of them in the car right after a video of them downing a full bottle of alcohol. No one would do this knowing their peers would care, they knew they wouldn't. Even more so, I've been in the car with someone while they were drunk without my knowledge till I had already been in the car for 5 minutes. This is even more scary as they thought I wouldn't care that they were drunk driving so they didn't even mention it.This drive could have been my last because of this normalization that's occurred since gen z has started driving. Now what's the fix to this? Well we need to have more discussions on the real dangers of texting while driving. Many people think it's an unserious thing that doesn't actually kill or injure people causing them to continue doing it without thinking about those very real dangers. With a discussion many people would realize this could actually ruin not only their lives but others with a serious injury or even death. This could help us to stop the normalization of texting while driving. Drinking while driving on the other hand is a trickier thing to start to tackle. My peers know they shouldn't be doing it but continue to, getting to the cause of why that is will help us to figure out a solution to that. Mental health might be the start of our cause, 1-5 teenagers struggle with some type of mental illness. I've witnessed many of my peers coping with depression, anxiety or just a stressful day with the use of alcohol or drugs. Many of them partake in these vices multiple times a week, Some everyday. The struggle with mental health could be the reason why drinking while driving has become so normalized within our younger generations because of this easier access to mental health professionals could help reduce drunk driving deaths. To wrap it up, driving drunk, high or distracted while texting is extremely normalized amongst our younger generations. But that doesn't make it right. Don't let your peers make this normal, drive for not only yourself but for the people around you as well.