Impaired driving is anything that inhibits your focus on driving. It is often misunderstood because people think that alcohol is the only thing that causes impairment, but in reality, it is anything that inhibits your focus / ability to drive. It can be texting, prescription medication, or even being tired. Any of these things can risk yours and others' safety and can be preventable.

Today the most common type of impairment is drunk driving, and texting is on the rise due to improved technology and addiction. These impairments negatively impact the driver's ability to drive, potentially leading to crashes and deaths. They also lead to unsafe behaviors like speeding, not seeing the entire road, and misjudging. Texting while driving takes your focus away from driving to reading a text message. This can cause the driver to potentially not see that a person is crossing the road and hitting them. It can also cause them to run a red light and get into a collision with another vehicle. The same goes with alcohol. It makes the driver less coordinated while driving. They can mistake the gas pedal for the brake pedal, not see the lines properly on the roads, and they swerve. This can cause a crash that could have been prevented if they did not get behind the wheel of a vehicle.  If anyone you know is drunk and tries to get behind the wheel of a car, please tell them they cannot drive. There is zero tolerance saying, so if you have had any alcohol, you should not drive.  If you have had alcohol and you get behind the wheel anyway, you are now risking your safety and others. Also, before you drive, put your phone on silent. This way, you are not tempted when you hear a ring from your phone. There are other forms of impairment like taking a prescribed pain medication. For example, there was a mom who got a felony for taking pills while her kids were in the vehicle with her. She should not have been driving because the pills she took impaired her driving. You may not think it impairs your driving abilities, but it can make you tired. A lot of truck drivers pull off at a truck stop to sleep because there have been times when people have fallen asleep at the wheel. Anything you can do to prevent from driving impaired can save a life.  

My dad was a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) which specializes in DWI. He has told me many stories about scenes he has gone to due to impaired driving. Some of them had to do with teens getting killed because they were texting. Others were families being the victims of an impaired driver. These stories have put into reality how dangerous impaired driving is. It can be your family that is killed by an impaired driver. It has made me promise myself to never drive impaired because of the harm it can cause to anyone. While my dad was a DRE, they would bring mangled cars and photos of real crashes that have happened because of impairment to schools. It really left an impact on everyone and brought awareness of what could happen if they drove impaired. It would put into perspective that this is real life, and it is not something that happens in movies. It could happen to anyone you know. Bringing real scene photos and cars to schools has left an impact on people because it shows them a real-life example of impaired driving, and they will not want to drive impaired because of what they have seen. Nobody wants to be responsible for killing someone because they chose to get behind the wheel while impaired. From hearing these stories and knowing about what happens when you drive impaired has made me tell people not to drive impaired. When someone comes out of a bar and they say they are okay to drive, do not let them drive because they do not realize that they are not okay to drive. Instead, say that you can take them home, or say that you will call them a ride. You can help people from driving impaired by bringing awareness to them.

In conclusion, impaired driving can be anything that inhibits your ability to drive. Anyone can be affected by impaired driving. People need to be aware of what happens when you drive impaired and be able to spread their awareness to others to possibly save a life.