For me, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is like an incapacity that prevents you from maintaining your own safety and the safety of others around you. When you drive drunk, you lose control of your senses and judgment, and that can cause you to lose not only control of your mind but also control of the car. Sometimes, most people misunderstand this point because many of them believe that "just a little" won't affect their driving, which is a mistake. Even "a little" will prevent you from maintaining some control behind the wheel. But that also includes some people who have taken driver education courses, since they tend to minimize the risk or not give it much importance, thinking they know the rules. But if they truly knew them, they would know that it's not just about the rules, since there's also the "driver's responsibility." Some of the most common impairments are alcohol and cell phone use. When you drive under the influence of alcohol, you impair your judgment, which is a very important detail because you lose control of your decision-making, and that can lead to dangerous results for you and others. Something similar happens with cell phone use, since you get distracted or lose control of your vision, which is very important when driving, and even a few seconds of distraction can be a deadly situation. Unfortunately, most people don't realize the importance of road safety; they only do so when they experience or hear something that changes their perspective. There was a time when my sister and I would walk home from school or take the bus, since we didn't have a car because our parents needed one for work. Our house was quite far from school, about an hour's drive. Sometimes, on the bus ride home, we'd see accidents with fire trucks and ambulances. We hadn't seen anything like that in our country, probably because we weren't that far from school. But here, my sister and I realized that these situations were quite common. We'd see people crying, screaming, and others unconscious on stretchers. This made my sister and me feel unsafe. These experiences made me realize that driving isn't a game or something to be taken lightly, because I think my sister or I could have been in one of those accidents. After a few months, my parents were able to get a driver to take us to school. At first, my sister and I were happy, but it only took a week for us to stop going to school by car. The reason was that the driver didn't seem to care much about our safety while driving. He drove fast, passed cars, ran stop signs, and was constantly on his phone. I thought he would just be like that at first, so I didn't say anything, but after two days, I realized my mistake. One day, on the way to school, the driver was so focused on his phone that he seemed to lose control of the vehicle that he didn't see the car in front of him and ended up hitting it. It wasn't very bad, but it still made me realize that we had to stop using that service. Seeing my sister's neck hurt after the impact left me wondering and fearing what would have happened if we had crashed harder, like the crashes we saw on the bus. This situation made me change my mind and think more clearly about the consequences of being drunk or simply distracted. Driver education courses can be very helpful because they teach you, with examples, the consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and also the importance of ensuring the safety of others. Furthermore, they effectively teach you, through examples and real-life stories, that in addition to the rules, you have to be aware of what you're doing behind the wheel. To contribute to preventing drunk or drug-induced driving, I can make responsible decisions to avoid hurting others and, at the same time, be a role model for others. I'm practicing more and more to get my driver's license, but in addition to that, I'm committed to not driving if I've consumed anything that impairs my judgment. I think that just as I have to protect and worry about my sister and parents, there are people who feel the same way, so that's a great motivation for me not to harm others, just as I wouldn't want them to harm me. To influence others to make safer decisions, I would talk to them to explain the risks of their choices and how they can affect not just one, but several lives. Sometimes an honest conversation can save many lives.