It seems as though drinking and driving is becoming more and more common in today’s society, knowing the impact it has on people’s lives.

Every day in America, 28 people die as a result of drunk driving. Every two minutes, a person is injured in a drunk driving accident. While many people keep the excuse “it will never happen to me” in the back of their mind, use these statistics to prove you otherwise.

Almost a year ago, a drunk driver crashed into the back end of my friend’s stopped car, causing a four-car collision. While others thankfully escaped injuries, my friend had died almost a month later.

The fact that completely innocent people lose their lives everyday as a result of another stranger’s careless actions saddens me the most. This impacts heavily on the lives of the victim’s loved ones, regardless of the situation.

For some reason after drinking, people believe that they are invincible. Alcohol impairs a person’s vision by weakening the muscles in the eyes. This causes blurred or double vision, which makes doing anything difficult. When being the wheel of a car with double vision, it is nearly impossible to stay focused on the road.

In 2012, 29.1 million people admitted to driving while under the influence, some of which did not necessarily get caught. That amount of people is higher than the population of Texas. Not only does that put the 29.1 million people driving at risk, it harms another couple million lives that were on the road at that time.

There is no reason to drink and drive. Odds are, there is someone out there who is willing to drive you home.