As a teen, impaired driving is one of the biggest risks I have seen in my daily life. In my experience, impaired driving is the act of operating a vehicle during an altered mental state, or more commonly, under distraction. Impaired driving is often misunderstood, even by educated and experienced drivers, because people assume the term only encapsulates driving during an altered mental state. For example, this would include driving while drunk or high. But, alcohol and drugs are not the only factors that contribute to impaired driving. Other conditions, such as fatigue or texting, pose an equally dangerous threat to one’s life while driving. Within my community and age group, these two impaired conditions are actually most common. Texting or calling as an impairment, while often highlighted as dangerous, is perceived to be relatively safe when compared to the other forms of impairment. This is false, though. All of the impairments have the ability to alter your judgement, reaction time, and focus while driving on the road. I have been in many cars where friends have swerved or missed a stop sign because there mind was occupied by there phone. These situations could have easily resulted in fatal accidents because the driver was distracted. Also, many of my friends and classmates participate in multiple extracurricular activities and have very busy schedules. Often times, while driving home, they experience extreme fatigue due to a lack of rest. I actually have a friend that was driving home from football practice, and he fell asleep at the wheel. He ended up running through a red light while he was asleep and crashed into another car. While he was ultimately unharmed, this was an experience very close to me that highlights the potential danger of fatigue as an impairment while driving. Seeing my friend get in an accident due to impaired driving motivated me to be more aware before driving. I am now more conscious of making sure I sleep enough at night, and I also now use methods like drinking water or singing to ensure I stay active and alert while driving. Impaired driving can also be fatal. Unfortunately, three years ago, a student at my school was killed because she ran off the road while drunk driving. This loss exposed me and my classmates to the extreme dangers of impaired driving. From hearing that student’s story, I definitely realized how impaired driving can alter one’s judgement and make driving unsafe. Before I was allowed to drive, my parents enrolled me in a driver’s safety course at a local college, and it genuinely changed my attitude around driving. The instructor constantly said, “Driving isn’t a matter of getting to your destination quickly. It is a matter of getting to your destination safely.” He was completely right. It is much more important to get to your destination safely than crash trying to get there quickly. The quote highlights how driving requires active measures to ensure you arrive safely each and every time you get behind the wheel. These programs are influential, not only because they highlight potential dangers and impairments while driving, but they also teach you how to avoid and fix them. For example, I learned in that course that it is important to stop and take a quick nap if you feel overly fatigued. I have done this a few times to prevent myself from falling asleep while driving. The course also covered steps to recover your car during a spinout by using a live simulation skid-car. This is a lesson that will help keep me safe in a potentially fatal situation. I am always conscious of the instruction from this course while I drive in order to be as safe as possible. As I drive with friends and others in my community, I look for ways to educate them on how to drive safely, responsibly, and unimpaired. Whenever I see a friend texting or on their phone while driving, I always make sure to remind them that the text isn’t worth being in an accident. I also always offer to drive or pull over to rest if I ever see a friend feeling fatigued behind the wheel. Even while at parties, I try to remind my friends to call ubers or sober friends if they intend on driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Impaired driving is extremely dangerous, and it is easy to lose sight of that, especially as a teen and new driver. It is important to remind yourself and those around you that the most important thing while driving is to reach your destination safely. The best way to ensure that happens is to drive unimpaired.