Name: Colton Johnson
From: Houston, Texas
Votes: 0

A single mom with her three kids pile into the van, giddy to get on the road to begin their highly anticipated road trip to Florida. It is blissful, exciting. Happy.

A young man leaving the bar after a night out with his friends fumbles for his keys. A mind under the influence is a dangerously persuasive thing. It guarantees unweighted promises of safety, blurs the edges, and compels one to believe it will be okay. It was only a couple of drinks after all. It will all be okay.

And in one loud, screeching halt, everything changes. The force of his vehicle plows into the other, making a tangled mess of metal and smoke. Killing all involved.

While this is just a hypothetical event, it is an tragedy that happens far too often. According to the NHTSA, approximately 30 people in the United States alone die from drunk driving accidents everyday. This cannot just be looked at as a number. It must be seen as every face, every mother, father, brother, daughter, son and grandparent that falls victim to it and the families that must go on living without them.

But let’s be honest, it doesn’t just stop at driving drunk. The term influence is described as being the capacity to have an effect on the character, development or behavior of someone. That means phones, radios, food. Anything and everything that can draw your attention away from the road is indeed, driving under and influence. In addition to this, according to the CDC approximately 9 people are killed a day and more than 1,000 are injured as a result of these distracted driving incidents.

It wasn’t until I myself found myself in a car accident behind the wheel did I really and truly start driving responsibly. I was changing the radio station when I looked up and saw a car stopped in the middle of the road. I went to break but my reaction time wasn’t quick enough. I slammed into a car in a blur of pure terror. I will never forget it. I remember the smoke. I remember the stillness that followed something so horrific. I remember not being able to control the frantic breathing that followed. I remember how unrecognizable my car looked. But the thing I will never forget is when the driver of the other car hugged me. We were both okay. We both walked away unharmed, and it still to this day doesn’t make sense to me, but it put everything in perspective for me. I could’ve taken everything away from someone in order to change the station on my radio.

Since then, I downloaded a setting onto my phone that will not notify me when I am driving. I always wait to eat at home if I go out and if I want to change a radio station I only allow myself to use the buttons on my wheel. These are all simple things that could be implemented into everyone’s everyday lifestyle.

The ultimate problem lies in this societies power of denial. People as a whole have become desensitized to such horrors because we no longer take the time to truly be effected unless it is going to directly affect one’s own life. It is a topic easily sugar coated or looked over because no one really thinks it is going to happen to them. No one cares until the bomb has gone off and the shards are flying. People forget that every decision they make has a shadow of consequence following it, an inevitable end to something that was once beautiful.

While there are steps people can take to better their own driving habits, they sometimes cannot avoid the actions of others as seen in the opening scenario. With this in mind, however, with increasing technology, these tragedies should be avoided. With Uber and Lyft becoming more accessible to people, there should be no excuse to get behind the wheel if one has one too many drinks. If being served alcohol, it should be a requirement to provide proof of either someone designated to drive or have an Uber or Lyft ordered and on the way. In 2016, over 1 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence which is proof that this could reduce the number of accidents substantially. In addition to this, it is important for schools to implement programs that expose them to the horrors of drunk driving to encourage them to practice safe driving. I remember listening to a speaker who had lost her daughter to a drunk driver where the drunk driver survived. This not only ruined her daughters chance at a life, but stunted the life of her family and friends. It is something I will never forget and made me promise myself to never drive under the influence.

While I can control my actions, I cannot control everyone else’s. But I can do my part to make sure the people in my life drive safe or stay safe. I woke up at 3 in the morning this year to my friends calling me saying their ride had ditched them at a party and confessing that they were drunk. Instead of brushing it off, I made it my responsibility to get them home and had to take two trips there and back to get them home safely. I can do is be there for the people I love and encourage safe driving, and if I do this for them, they will in turn do the same for others.

In short, safe driving is not something unattainable. Driving under any influence, whether it be alcohol or the screen of a phone should not be tolerated, by anyone. Through increased knowledge, technology, and advocating for my friends and family members, we can help make roads a safer place to be. The mind under the influence is a dangerous thing, but a heart impacted can do beautiful things.

Works Cited

“Distracted Driving | Motor Vehicle Safety | CDC Injury Center.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/distracted_driving/index.html.

“Motor Vehicle Safety.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 June 2017,
www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html.

“NHTSA.” NHTSA,
4 Oct. 2018, www.nhtsa.gov/.