Teenagers often enjoy the ability to drive without realizing the responsibility it comes with. Impaired driving is more than driving while tired or eating; it’s driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, which is an adult and youth issue. Although an impaired teenager has never personally impacted me, I know how heavy it can be on someone. Driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, to me, means a young person’s mistake could have been prevented if enough acknowledgement reached them.
    Many high schoolers’ egos get in the way of knowing the reality of driving under the influence. They believe that having a few shots at a party or a little weed won’t harm their bodies, but they don’t realize the effects it can have on them mentally and physically. Such as motor skills, high heart rate, severe mood swings, a hard time concentrating, and much more. Due to the unfortunate normalcy of smoking and drinking in high school and peer pressure, many young people fall into bad habits to fit in. This leads to a lost sense of control, a teenager thinking they can handle themselves but instead destroy themselves, a person, or a family. 
   Despite the fact that I haven’t experienced the impact of impaired driving, hearing real stories has shaped the way I think about driving under the influence. Being educated through videos of real traumas, statistics of people who don’t make it after being involved in drunk driving accidents, and hearing real stories from survivors or their families has touched my heart. Driver’s education is effective when they stick with people, not lecture you, and constantly remind you of things you know. I think that when driver’s education reaches people through compassion, it can change someone’s mindset on what they're learning, especially teenagers. The younger people are aware of how their actions can affect a community, the more they start to make better decisions. As a person who finds joy in benefiting others, I believe that driver’s education programs should create long-lasting emotional effects to change people’s choices. 
   Being impaired under the influence of alcohol or drugs while driving has extreme lifelong effects, especially on young people. Alcohol can minimize your judgment and causes you to become drowsy, which can alter your thinking process and make you perform unsafe decisions when driving. Drugs can cause feelings of euphoria, paranoia, and anxiety, which can hinder your attention span to the road and misjudge situations. When an impaired teenager is driving, they usually don’t realize their brain hasn’t fully developed yet, so their behavioral and cognitive functions are not mature and won’t fully mature until they reach 25. Getting into an accident as a teenager while impaired is something that will stick with you for eternity. The outcomes can be catastrophic, and teenagers who cause car accidents do more than ruin their lives; they deprive themselves of many upcoming opportunities, driving privileges, trust within relationships, and much more. 
    Personally, I believe that a leader is more than a name; it’s about expressing yourself to care for others. Through the clubs I am a part of at school, I have learned that awareness and setting an example is important to reaching people. Before a friend is about to make a decision that could stick with them for the rest of their life, I am the one to talk them out of it and make sure they know how risky of a decision they are about to make. I have learned that spreading attention to a cause is important to let others know that being a leader rather than a follower is valuable. Though being free can be fun at times, safety overcomes it. 
   In the future, my professional dream of being a social worker connects to my passion for leading people towards a positive answer. Being a social worker means you connect with people emotionally and help people avoid dangerous actions before they do them. Impaired driving is an avoidably dangerous action that is reachable to people through driver’s education, understanding, and compassion. As a driver, I hope to carry these lessons with me, especially to think before performing an action, and I hope I can guide others to do the same. 

   High schoolers driving impaired, such as being high or drunk, can be seen as a small error to them, but it leaves others with big troubles. Every mother, father, sister, brother, cousin, or loved one lost during a tragedy represents a future potential taken away. Though I have never been directly touched, I know how a mistake can impact your whole life. When picking up car keys, there is always a right and wrong choice:to kill someone or save them, and that is why I choose to be a good influence and provide knowledge on the impact of impaired driving.