I’ll never forget the crash that summer. In the summer of 2014 I was going into 5th grade, earlier that year my dad had been diagnosed with cancer and my mom wanted to cheer us up; so we went to the children's museum. After a fun care-free day at the museum we got in the car and drove home, a typical task, starting like any other drive home downtown. Then we slowly pulled up to a red light and stopped, not knowing that the car behind was paying little attention. My mom looked in the rear view mirror just before it happened. Suddenly I felt the car move forward, almost putting us in the intersection. We were lucky that the driver wasn’t going too fast when he rear-ended us. Pure fear in my eyes I turned to my brothers, both safe, I turned to my mom, she was already checking on us. Still fearful I turned behind to see the driver. A man in his late 30s with his wife next to him, eyes bulging, he couldn’t believe what just happened either. Then I see him look down, a salad placed in his hands, not the steering wheel. He hit us because he couldn't wait to get home or pull over to eat a salad. 

My story is similar to many, lucky ones who got out unharmed. Even though lots of crashes can end not terribly, many do. Just like how the driver that day couldn’t wait to get home to eat, others can't wait to send that text, drink that drink, and so much more. For some reason we as drivers put more importance on our phones and food then we do on other peoples lives. To me impaired driving means anything that pulls your attention away from the road you are driving on and the cars in front of you. I know that a lot of people seem to think that impaired driving only applies to some kind of alcoholic or drug issue. A lot of the focus in drivers education is on drinking and driving, which is a very important issue, but I believe that that level of focus on one issue undermines the others. 

A big impairment of drivers today is texting and driving. The rise of phone car mounts has made it easily accessible to have your phone in sight and close when driving. The National Safety Council reported that around 1.6 million crashes a year are caused by cell phone distractions, they even estimate that throughout the day 660,000 drivers attempt to use their cell phones while behind the wheel of an automobile. When you hear your phone buzz it is an automated reaction to pick it up or even just looking at it. This small action of just looking at your phone could take your eyes off the road long enough to cause an accident. 

Looking quickly at a phone caused injuries to my friend and her sister. One of the days I will never forget was the day my friend was in a devastating crash. She immediately texted a group of us and sent pictures of her face and what happened, the bloody picture still burned in my mind. The person that hit her and her sister was texting and driving. It sent a shock through my body. Having just obtained my drivers license I swore to myself that I would never be so careless and cause that pain my friend was experiencing  to someone else. It also made me more of a defensive driver, one of the main points of drivers education. 

Drivers education and traffic school courses can help to show people that real people are affected by impaired driving. It can list the amount of crashes that happen due to impaired driving and explain thoroughly what impaired driving is. This can help people to not only see the negative effects of driving impaired, but what impaired driving is and how to avoid it. When drivers education uses real stories of people whose lives have been affected by impaired driving it gives students taking the course more empathy for those people, giving them things to think through when they decide whether or not to drive impaired. Not only will the emotional aspect affect them, but the facts will as well. Driver's education discusses how common impaired driving incidents are, allowing the student to see that there is a real issue with this, and will convince them to not add to the statistics.    

I can personally also help with this problem by not driving impaired, educating others, and not letting my friends drive if impaired. The most direct way for me to help with the problem is to not drive impaired myself. I will also educate other people on the dangers of driving impaired, telling them how to avoid issues with impairments, they could designate a driver, pull over when extremely tired, and practice defensive driving. If I notice that a friend of mine is extremely tired I can offer them a ride home, or have them call a friend to pick them up. This way they will still get home safely and not harm any other drivers.