Within our societies today, the importance of driving safely has become less and less significant. As more people begin to get their new licenses and start to drive on their own, they tend to always go on their phone while driving, or not pay attention to their surroundings, and these things along with others are the reason why thousands of people die every year from car accidents. By getting proper education on driving, learning from the real consequences of not driving properly, and by ensuring that we take what we learn about driving and use it properly, it can make sure that these accidents are not occurring as much. Due to the substantial number of people who are killed from car crashes every year, it is important that we are driving safely and that we learn and instill safe driving into our lives. 

      It is important that when we are learning about driving, we learn about the different types of impairments that can cause these accidents from occurring, which one of these impairments are texting while driving, or being on your phone while driving in general. When I was about 7 years old, my dad got into a car accident because he was texting while driving, and this led to him breaking both of his knee caps, getting a concussion, and bruising a few ribs. This is showing how just going on your phone for one second can cause injuries that can affect you for the rest of your life, and this isn’t even including the others who die from this. A study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that in 2023, over 3000 people died from a car accident that involved a cellular device. Seeing how many people die from these types of crashes along with knowing somebody who was involved in an accident revolving around a cell phone, it makes me personally see how important it is that we are not on our phone while driving. Even if it is just you driving up to a traffic light that is green when you see it, you could look down at your phone, not see the light turn red, and rear end the vehicle in front of you. It is that easy for some type of accident to occur in such a short amount of time. Again, even if it is you trying to change it to the next song, you not paying attention could lead to a devastating accident that could alter you, or other people's lives entirely. This form of impairment can simply be prevented as long as you are aware of the dangers that come with it. Most people hear about why it is dangerous and they just put it aside, but if you genuinely think about it or you know someone who has been in a crash relating to it being from a phone, you will most definitely reconsider going on that phone, but it only takes a couple seconds for you or others lives to be altered. 

      The second form of impairment that we need to really take into consideration while, or even before driving, is the intake of drugs and/or drinking. Every year, according again from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, on average in the last 10 years, around 11,000 people die from car accidents relating to drinking while driving. Then, from drugs, in 2021, about 10,000 people died from drug-related car accidents. Taking drugs while driving or drinking while driving is so dangerous, because when you do drink an excessive amount or you take any drugs before driving, you aren’t in the right state of mind. When you are driving like this, it is like it isn't even you driving the car. You could be drunk or on some drug while driving, and because you are fully impaired from being able to pay attention to your driving, you could get into a crash and kill yourself or other people, all because you decided to take something before driving. It is understandable that some people do have addictions, and addictions are things that not everybody is able to get past, but the best thing someone with an addiction could do is stay off the road when they are like this. Before they go and take drugs or drink, they should make sure that they aren’t planning any driving later on, that way these things can be avoided, because every year, combined from drinking and drug related accidents, that is over 20,000 people dying all because someone couldn’t stay off of the road. I believe this is so important because when I was around 6 or 7 years old, my mom was on drugs while driving, and thankfully a law enforcement officer pulled her over before anything bad happened, but she was swerving on the road, going in and out of her lane, and this is obviously dangerous because there are other cars around her, which she put herself and others in danger. This is why it is so important to stay away from these things while driving, because it only takes one mess up until you could change your life forever. 

      To wrap things up, the general message is to make sure that you know about the dangers of impairing yourself while driving. To be impaired while driving means that you are preventing yourself from being focused while driving, and by doing this, it puts you, and the other drivers around you at risk. So ensuring that you learn fully about the dangers of driving while impaired, so texting while driving, drunk driving, driving while on drugs, and other forms of impairment that I did not mention, can ensure that you are creating a safe driving environment for you and those around you.