Did you know that the most leading cause of death in America is car accidents! According to the CDC's website, there have been 120 people killed in crashes every day, 2.6 million emergency department visits, and $470 billion worth of damage in car accidents alone. Although there’s been improvement with the models of cars over the years, there’s still the major issue of safety. So the question to be posing here is what can car companies do to make a model safe for individuals when they get into car accidents; to prevent injuries and costs from rising even more? The issues that will be discussed are how impaired driving can affect someone under the influence and the importance of taking driver’s lessons to know the road.

Believe it or not there’s a lot of damage that can happen when colliding rear first, when the air bags deploy. A person leans forward and when the air bags deploy, they push the person back to try and keep the person safe. Unfortunately the bad thing about most air bags now is they can do more damage to the car, which leads to excessive fines to get the car fixed. Dealing with any car accident isn’t easy, especially when you’re dealing with an impaired driver. Most people paint a persona around impaired drivers as ‘bad’ and “destructive” which can be true, but it’s not always the case. There are people who struggle with breaking addictions so when they drive on the road, they can be careless and not think about what they're doing. Let’s take for example a 16 year old in high school, taking a drivers education course and they've never heard the word. This can be scary for a high school student learning how to drive to always be cautious of their surroundings. On the other hand, there are some 16 year old's who don’t care, they are misinformed for not caring about the drivers education course. The lack of awareness can be detrimental. 

When it comes to young adults being misinformed about the road it can lead to them not knowing how dangerous impaired driving really is. The most common type of impaired driving today is the use of alcohol,drugs, and marijuana. This is no surprise because the main cause has stayed the same for decades. When a person is under the influence of alcohol,marijuana, and drugs they start to steer off of the road, their eyesight becomes blurry, they can fall asleep, not realize their speed, and not obey traffic signals. With having impaired drivers it creates a space for many people to get killed/injured by someone’s careless mistakes they made. 

In the 6th grade, my health teacher was teaching us a lesson about the dangers of impaired driving and it opened my eyes up to the cruel/devastating reality. I watched the video not knowing what to say, but only being able to feel sorry for all those involved in the horrific accident. There was a new awakening that happened in me to try and spread awareness about this issue and I started to talk to more people about it. This health class wasn’t just about bringing an awareness for impaired driving, but instead for the innocent lives that are lost. This experience has allowed me to be extra cautious of people on the road and to study more on the topic of impaired driving. In my opinion, having every middle school and especially every high school have multiple lessons about the dangers of impaired drivers, when to spot them, how to help them, and how to contribute into the process of helping save innocent lives is crucial. 

Furthermore adding onto the lessons being taught in high school, they should be taught in every health classroom and even other school events to bring awareness to impaired drivers, getting to allow students to talk to teachers, explore for themselves how dangerous it can be, and for a chance for students to engage with the school counselors and advisors. With awareness of classes about driving and events at schools, it can make students more informed on the material they are receiving and they can be better prepared when driving on the road. Students can take what they have learned in the driving classes/programs, to the reality of driving, and know what to do and how to go about situations more calmly and safely. The main point of the driving classes is to teach students how to navigate any problems they have while on the road in a professional manner so with more students educated about the road, the better. When it comes to my own sacrifices, all I can do to make driving better is to wear bracelets/ make posters/ talk to others about the dangerous realities the road has and to inform as many young individuals as possible. With the research I have done and the classes I'm currently taking, I can say that because I’ve been so informed of the information provided to me, it’s allowed me to become more cautious.

Impaired drivers is not something that should scare people away from getting on the road but instead to research more about the topic to feel confident and safe when in those situations. Dealing with anything in life calmly and safely can be hard at times, but it’s a crucial skill that our society needs today. Whether it be going out to raise awareness about a situation or simply by donating money to an organization, that is a start to make the world a better place. Although there have been many injuries and deaths with car accidents, it doesn’t mean to stop making change altogether, but instead to embrace the challenges/ difficulties/ and loss, and to keep striving for success.