According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020 over 11,000 people died due to drunk driving accidents. Although this may seem like a small number in comparison to the 300 million residents in the U.S., each death impacts countless families, co-workers, friends, etc. Multiple approaches must be utilized to prevent these types of deaths from reoccurring. There is no one size fits all solution to drunk driving. Drivers education and traffic safety courses is one of the tools that can be utilized to prevent deaths due to impaired driving.

Impaired driving to me means driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or anything that affects the drivers ability to make knowledgeable and informed decisions on the road or factors like fatigue, dizziness, or distraction. With any of these, it means your decision making is dangerously affected and can lead to a preventable collision. This concept can be confused by others because when most think of impaired driving, they only think of drunkenness. But impaired driving is a tree with many roots that most people can’t or don’t try to see. Drivers may have received information, but they didn’t do thorough digging to discover the true meaning of impaired driving. 

Of all the many different forms of impaired driving, alcohol influence is the most common type. According to CDC Impaired Driving, 18.5 million residents starting at the age of 16 were driving under the influence of alcohol. 7.2% were 16 year olds. In 2024, over the span of 1 month, 134.5 million people were under alcohol starting at the age of 12 according to 2024 NSDUH Annual National Report. Texting/distracted driving is also very high amongst the drivers of the US. In 2023, over 3,500+ lives were lost due to texting while driving. While NHTSA is trying to bring forth a resolution and awareness to this problem, it’s still a very common issue. Things like alcohol affect your ability to make decisions by the impact of your awareness, slowed reaction time, and also affects muscle coordination. Texting while driving is dangerous for obvious reasons, you are not paying full attention to the road, you are a distracted driver with little to no awareness of what is going on around you. In the blink of an eye a car could cut into the lane of the distracted driver and just like that an incident happens, all it takes is one little second of not paying attention to the road and collisions, sometimes death, can occur.

In the year of 2025, after the Houston Independent School District had their school prom, a tragic incident struck. Two high school seniors lost their lives after prom due to a terrible crash. This story lives with the community forever because of the connection of the two kids and all the friends and relationships that they have created. This was caused by driving under the influence, and shows how dangerous it is. It can happen to anybody on any given night. All it takes is one bad decision to intoxicate your body and mind while out having fun, knowing you will have to drive home soon. These kids had a bright future to live, more education to receive, but it was all cut short due to one bad decision. This shaped my awareness, made me realize how dangerous these roads really are. It came to my senses that going to and coming from places, I should always be responsible for what I feed my body, what type of environment I'm in, and when it’s time to leave. With this mindset it will prevent me from putting myself as well as other drivers at risk of a fatal incident.

To make an improvement to this problem, driving courses should be offered in high school to the students, and should be available during class hours. This will build the students' awareness of road safety, and force them to be more engaged and learn concepts just like you do in any other class. With online courses, students have the option to cheat with new AI technology. It has become easier for students to upload pictures of the course work returned with the correct answers, leading them to learn practically nothing. With driving courses being taught in person, students can be more interactive, ask questions, and have a better grasp of the reality of driving.

With my personal experience, I am able to make informed decisions on the road, know when and where to go with my car, and what to expect in certain areas and situations. I use my knowledge of the roads to spread information to others who are new on the road so they as well can make safe and knowledgeable decisions on the road.