The Try Guys are a fun group of guys who make extremely creative videos. Many people probably know them from their Buzzfeed videos. However, they recently created their own channel, and are free to produce whatever content they want. While most of their videos lean towards the lighthearted/funny side, they took on a more serious tone to driving while impaired.
Throughout four videos, the Try Guys got behind the wheel while impaired. They tested their natural driving abilities against driving while intoxicated, driving high, driving while texting, and driving while sleep deprived. They got high, got drunk, didn't sleep for a day, and texted each other while taking to a course set up to test their driving abilities. While driving impaired, the Try Guys hit way more cones, drove much faster, drove much slower, and crashed into a dog on a skateboard rolling across the road. Clearly, their driving skills were hindered by their impairment, and if they were driving in real life, they would inevitably cause an accident.
Throughout my schooling, getting behind the wheel while drunk was always stressed upon as being a huge no-no. I recall in health class back in middle school learning about how your reaction time, and awareness is strongly decreased by the effects of alcohol. However, the other three impairments are not as frequently talked about, even though they can do the same amount of damage.
What struck me as the most interesting drives were texting while driving, and driving while sleep deprived. I think that plenty of people don't take into consideration the possibility of killing someone when they check their phone for a few seconds or get behind the wheel after staying up super late working the night before. As a society, many of us think that answering a text while driving doesn't cause any harm. It has the potential to kill.
While I don't drive much anymore, when I did, I'd always be sure to put my phone away, just because I know how distracted I can get on it. I'd probably look down at a text, and then get lost on my social media feeds. However, I know plenty of good people who look at their phones while driving. I've nearly been hit by a car while crossing the street to get home, just because someone was looking at their phone.
In high school, my swim team had morning practices at 6 a.m. Most of us had to wake up around 5 to make it in on time. Since I had school work and other activities, I sometimes wouldn't get to sleep until midnight or later. Some girls mentioned not being able to sleep until 3 a.m. on certain days. Yet, we still had to drive to swim practice the next day. We were all too busy trying to make it to practice on time and didn't consider that a car accident could've easily occurred. There were times where our coach had to drive us to some swim meets, and in one instance a car accident did almost happen.
I think that the Try Guys Videos on driving while impaired is something that everyone should watch. While most videos on impaired driving give facts or get very sad, the Try Guys actually show what happens when driving when you're high, drunk, sleep deprived, or texting. Their videos don't get too dark and still resonate with many people. They really hit home and makes you rethink getting behind the wheel while impaired.