Driving is often scary for many first-time drivers, including myself. I remembered sitting behind the wheels for the first time after getting my permit and being scared. Since then, I have built more confidence in driving and received my driver’s license. Many teenagers after receiving their driver’s license feel confident in their driving abilities. This usually leads many to start doing things that in driver’s education they told us not to do. Texting, calling, adjusting your GPS: these are all examples of impaired driving. Impaired driving is when you are not putting your full attention into driving. Many drivers misunderstand the meaning of impaired driving, because they feel very confident in their driving that being a little distracted is not a big deal. They think, “I drive all the time, what harm can happen?”. A lot. 

 

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 3275 lost their lives due to distracted driving in 2023. The most common impairment in drivers today is adjusting the GPS, with a statistic of 57% of drivers according to The Zebra. Many Americans use a GPS on their phones to navigate around the country. Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze: these are all very popular GPS tools that people use in their cars every day. A GPS may seem harmless because all you must do is plug your phone into your car and drive. You are not technically on your phone. However, that is not true. Often when people drive, they check their GPS to make sure it is working correctly. Whether it is checking if the GPS is taking them to the right destination or if they are taking the right exit, people are constantly checking their GPS. This contributes to unsafe driving, because it is impaired driving. Checking your GPS puts some of your attention on the GPS and not 100% into driving. 

Impaired driving is very common among people in my town. During my time at driver’s education, I learned not only about how to drive but also about different circumstances on the roads. Our driving instructor was a former state patrol. During his time in state patrol, he encountered many intense situations. One of the tragic stories he told us was about a family getting ice cream at Country Merchentile, a local store in Pasco, Washington. What was supposed to be a normal day turned out to be a nightmare. Since Country Merchenitle is located on the U.S. Route 395, cars driving by drive very fast. As the family were trying to turn left out of Country Merchentile to go home from a long day of fun, an impaired driver crashed their car into them. Sadly, the family passed away from the accident. My driver’s education instructor told us that the impaired driver was on their phone, which caused them to be distracted and crashed into the family. After hearing that story and many more, it really shaped my awareness about distracted driving. I knew I did not want to be on my phone when I drive, but after hearing these stories, it made me to never want to be on my phone ever whenever I am behind the wheel. 

Alongside teaching people how to drive, driver’s education and traffic school courses implementing real life stories in their curriculum could help change attitudes and behaviors around impaired driving among new drivers. Hearing real life impaired driving stories will make new drivers understand that distracted driving is not small but can cause a very big impact on many people’s lives. It feels like common sense to not be impaired while driving, but many do not take that fact seriously. By having driver’s education and traffic school courses talk about real life scenarios, students will understand more about the impact of being impaired while being behind the wheel. 

Now whenever I drive, I do my best to stay off my phone. Even when the phone rings, I ignore it and put my sole focus on the road. While I cannot control how people drive on the road, I can control myself. I am very lucky to have never been in a crash, but there were many times where I almost did because other drivers were impaired. Due to my focus, I immediately hit my breaks, which prevented a crash. One person can make a big difference. While yes, ideally everybody should drive safely, distracted driving is very common. For that reason, if one person, regardless of if they had the right of way or not, can drive safely, many lives could be saved.