Imagine, you are driving on the road, and suddenly, you see a little white cross covered in flowers and small gifts. You may think to yourself, maybe it’s just a decoration that some religious group displayed, only to find out that those little roadside crosses are memorial statues. For many, when a loved one is lost in a car crash they will put a cross at the site that the accident occurred. Every year thirty-five to thirty-seven thousand lives are claimed by accidents on the road, but more than half of those crashes are influenced by impaired driving or driving under the influence.

Driving, although a part of almost every American's life, is one of the most dangerous things known to the nation. Weather caused by the environment, being under the influence, or an innocent accident that happened on the road, car and motorcycle crashes can be fatal. Because such a large amount of accidents are the product of impaired driving, parents often teach their kids to not drive under the influence as well as avoid driving at night and around areas with a lot of clubs and bars. Although all of these tips can be very useful in avoiding areas where impaired drivers are, this does not substitute for proper education.

First, the learner must acknowledge that they are no different than any other driver. If you are under the influence, you cannot just drive home believing that the worst case scenario will never happen to you. In the United States, the legal blood alcohol concentration is 0.08 grams of alcohol per deciliter, while some states have a lower limit, no state has a high limit. As for driving under the influence of drugs, the United States has a zero tolerance policy no matter the substance to body concentration. These rules are in place because alcohol is all similar and the measurement is at a standard that ensures the driver will be safe enough to get home. Not all drugs work the same and different amounts vary for each drug, and even then, officers would need to have impaired drivers take a drug test after being pulled over, and after a crash has already occurred.

Although driving under the influence is the biggest impairment to drivers across America, it is not the only impairment. A few other impairments consist of texting, fatigue, medication effects, and any form of driving that causes your attention to not be full on the road. This type of driving is common across the United States, and surprisingly more likely to cause an accident than driving under the influence. A few ways to decrease all impaired driving are to put the phone away while driving, only driving when fully alert and awake, avoid driving late at night, no driving during a large emotional episode like sadness or anger, and ensuring that any medication that you need to take throughout the day will not affect your performance while driving. 

To prevent impaired driving, drivers education should expand more on all types of impaired driving. Most driving schools spend a lot of time explaining the effects of drugs and alcohol on the human brain and how they can cause crashes. Some institutes even immerse the learner in the victim's backstories and how their accidents affected them and those around them. However, driving schools don’t bring enough attention to the little things such as texting and driving, fatigue, emotions, and medication and how they can also cause a crash. Driving schools across the country should teach students good habits and eliminate bad habits among their students.

Drivers education doesn’t end once you earn your licence though, it is important that you keep yourself and your friends in check while driving. If your friend pulls their phone out while driving, ask them to put it away. If you go out drinking with family or friends, make sure that there is a designated driver each time to make sure that everyone gets home safe. Inform your loved ones that impaired driving doesn’t just stop at drugs and alcohol. It is also important when teaching a new driver, like a son or daughter, you thoroughly explain the effects of impaired driving. Just because you think you can control yourself, does not mean that tragedy will never happen to you.

In the end, it is important that we receive the proper education on impaired driving in order to ensure that the total number of motor vehicle accidents will decrease every year. We as a society must work together to prepare the next generation to reject the temptation to look at the phone while driving, or driving after having too many drinks. We need to end impaired driving, because no loved one wants to decorate a cross and place it on the side of the road.