Impaired driving means to me that someone has the inability to drive, oftentimes including being under the influence of a substance, but can occur for other reasons. Impaired driving is sometimes misunderstood as TV, News, Movies, and other media make it so that impaired driving is the same as being under the influence of a substance, such as alcohol or drugs. In traffic school and driver’s education, worst case scenarios are taught, mainly containing substances as well. Although somewhat true, these are not all the impairments of driving. The types of inability to drive are: being distracted, such as being on your phone while driving or not paying attention to the road, and having any sort of disability that can cause the difficulty of driving on the road. 

The types of impairment are vast in range, from being distracted to abusing substances, which all affect how a person drives. Although there’s many ways of being impaired, the most common among drivers today are “feeling fatigue” and “texting” while driving. In modern day, electronic devices are part of everyday life, where looking at a computer screen or using your phone for different platforms are, and have been, integrated into daily life. But using these items everyday can cause people to use them regardless of what they are doing, such as walking, eating, talking to other people, and even driving. This type of usage causes distractions when doing important activities such as driving, where even small mistakes can have a huge impact on one's life, or the other people driving. As common as texting and driving, feeling fatigue is common throughout the world. As jobs are mandating more hours all throughout, the time spent comes at a price, with shifts lasting well over half the day, commuting to one's own home can be tiresome, and can even lead to accidents on the way there. These events can change a person's life.

Although I’ve had few events in my life that I had experienced about the real world and its danger on the road, they have had a major change to what I think about impaired driving. A couple of weeks ago, I recently visited a mall that my mom had wanted to attend for a long time, and we had enjoyed our time there. On our way back, we were chatting about our experience at the mall, where my mom looked at me for a brief moment, and that is when it all happened. At first, we made eye contact as we were discussing regularly without a care in the world, but a couple of moments later, a car pulled up in front of us, with no clear indication nor blinker lights, cutting us off from our own lane. As the car pulled up, it immediately slammed its brakes to attempt to avoid something ahead occurring in front of us, and we were only a few yards away from the car in front of us. In a split second decision, when my mom noticed the events unfolding in front of us, she slammed her brakes which led to us jolting forward from our seats, thankful for our seat belts holding us in place. Slamming on her brakes in a quick fashion lead to us only ending a couple of feet away from the vehicle in front of us. As we re-assured ourselves that we were safe, we pulled up beside the car that was previously in front of us, and what we had noticed was a site to see: the person currently driving, was on their phone not paying any mind to the people in front or behind them. This event, although no accidents occurring, really changed my perspective of impaired driving and noticing the people and my surroundings around me. It taught me that, even becoming distracted for a little time could, and can lead to devastating accidents occurring, reminding me that texting and driving is not a behavior trait to do while driving. 

As these were real life events, traffic school courses and driver education can also not just communicate these types of events, but also reveal the impact that they can actually experience in real life. Although this is true, a driver’s education and traffic school courses can also help to change attitudes and behavior around impaired driving by communicating what these types of wrongs can lead to, as not just accidents can occur, but actual legal consequences that an individual can experience due to these actions being done. These programs are effective in the real-world, as these situations/simulations can help avoid accidents and teach/show what is needed to do if occurred. 

A role that I can personally play in preventing impaired driving is communicating to my peers and friends of the dangers of driving while impaired. As my friends and I are getting older, we are beginning to travel more, such as to work and to different other environments, where transportation is necessary, and a car is their main mode of transport. This situation occurring can eventually lead to them picking up the bad habits that I had experienced on the other end of. As I communicate with them, I am introducing them to safer decisions and habits being carried out.