Any form of impaired driving is the most selfish thing a person can do. Impaired driving is any state that a driver is in, that affects their driving capabilities to any point. This can be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or it can even be simply being tired from driving or looking at your phone. It not only puts yourself in danger, but it also puts your passengers and anyone happening to be driving on the road that day. You're putting your own satisfaction in front of everyone else and it can lead to devastating consequences.

Driving impaired is often misunderstood because young drivers often just think of drinking and using drugs while driving as the only forms of impaired driving. Often a driver’s usage of their phone and their fatigue are overlooked just because how little they are talked about. Also looking at your phone and being tired are common, everyday things, so it isn’t seen as out of the ordinary to do these things while driving.

Among the new age of drivers, texting and phone usage in general has got to be the most prevalent. This is the most prevalent because first off, of the easy accessibility of a driver’s phone to the driver, and also the need or reliance a teenager has to their phone. When a teenager is stopped by a red light, their first instinct is to pull out their phone, and scroll on social media. This can even happen if there is light traffic, but moments like these can be extremely dangerous to anyone on the road. A driver giving any bit of their attention to their phone can be drastic. A car could slam on their brakes, a kid chasing a ball could run out in front of them, or even an animal could run out in front of their car. No one knows what could happen while they are driving, so it is always important to keep all your attention on the road.

One of my old managers that I worked for over two years under made a mistake that changed her whole life. This was an ordinary girl, college student, fun to be around, lots of friends, and one night she made a selfish decision. She decided to drive drunk home from a bar one night, and on the way to her house she hit two college students walking on the side of the road. One of them sadly passed away, and the other one made it but suffered from life changing injuries. The fact that this was just a normal girl and her whole life completely changed after one mistake, really stuck to me. I always listened to those stories in the videos that they play during driver’s ed, but none of those stuck to me like this one did. This really just made me realize how something like this could be because it isn’t fair that that 20 year old boy died that night. It isn’t right for his family to go through all of that pain just from a girl’s decision.

Driver education courses can help play a role in fixing this problem by allowing the kids to do it themselves. This might sound crazy at first, but allow me to explain. Nowadays we have access to simulators that can give kids access to what it feels like to really drive. One thing that these educators could do is have the kids drive on these simulators completely normal, and then drive on them either with a phone in their hand or even a pair of drunk goggles on. This can allow kids to see the drastic difference these little things can have on their driving ability, and this will hopefully deteriorate them from doing any of these things while driving.

One thing I can do, is if I see any of my friends or classmates actively participating in any of these impairments, I can educate them and get them help. I am a teenager and teenagers are the biggest culprits of being on their phone while driving, so just correcting my friends in their driving habits could save a life one day. It can also save my friends life from death or spending the rest of their life in a jail cell.

I want you to think next time you decide to pull out your phone or not get enough sleep the night before a big drive, of what it would feel like if your own child died because of the negligence of another adult, and how that would make you feel.