Safety Knows
Several public and non-profit organizations have come together in grassroots fashion to help educate the public on the dangers of distracted driving. The organization’s namesake is Drive Aware Oklahoma (DAO) and its mission paraphrased is to educate the public in lieu of legislation.
The organization’s first objective is to educate about texting while driving. Just because there are no specific laws in place does not make this the thing to do. It is the number one distracted driving cause of accidents.
To boost education the DAO group has adopted the Ad Council’s STOP THE TEXTS.STOP THE WRECKS campaign which you can find yourself at www.stoptextsstopwrecks.org
The DAO group has spoken to TV and radio stations in both OKC and Tulsa as well as Lamar billboard company to run the ad campaign the week before Halloween. The group is in hopes that awareness will be raised before kiddos are out Trick or Treating.
School Zones are a particularly vulnerable area as well for distracted drivers and a few campaigns already have pointed towards them with distracted driving education. Some states have at least “no phone zones” in school crossings but OK is not one of them.
Drivers should be careful and turn off their phones when they get in the car. That way they are not curious when that “sound” occurs meaning a new text is in. And to go a step further drivers should consider a recording on cellphones that tells callers they will not accept calls while driving. The recording can say that the call will be returned when the driver is in a safe place and no longer moving.
Keep it safe and Drive Aware Oklahoma!
Summer Safety
Summertime means more time outdoors. We all want to have a great time playing in pools and parks, or camping and doing yard work. Sports abounds outside and we can either be players or spectators and have a good time doing either one.
Sometimes we take safety for granted and I have fallen into this same trap. We’re in such a hurry to get outside and have fun that we forget to take some safety precautions. We think it might be OK at the time until things turn ugly then or later.
Sunburns, insect bites, rashes, abrasions, sprains and strains are the least of some effects from being outside trying to have a fun time. Broken bones, lacerations and, God forbid, fatalities are the more serious.
All of this is to say “prepare for your outdoor fun” by taking precautions that won’t leave you wishing you had later. Wear sunscreen, wear protective clothing, wear personal protective gear that is designed to keep you safe. It ceases to be a fun time when things go bad and we have all either seen that or experienced it firsthand.
I don’t mean to be a fuddy duddy on having fun. Enjoy the great outdoors! Get out of the house! Just play and work safe so that your enjoyment stays what it should be; a healthy good time.
Distracted Driving
You may have not kept up with our state proposed bills this year, and this next week is the last week that any must be passed. Once again our legislature has defeated or overlooked bills to do with distracted driving and in particular texting while driving.
For three years running Rep Danny Morgan has introduced legislation and worked tirelessly in education of his peers. And for three straight years legislation has been defeated.
The last cell phone and texting laws to be passed were in 2009 when those under GDL laws were restricted from using cell phones until they had their full license. This sounds pretty good and had some nice implications.
The problem is that it fell short because many or most new drivers have their full license by the time they are 16 1/2. A 15 1/2 yr old can obtain a driving permit and then can take a driving school class and ultimately qualify for their full unrestricted license in one year.
At this point they can go back to legally texting or talking on cell phone to their hearts content. Oklahoman must step up and recognize the hazards of cell phone use while driving and we must start with texting. Polls show that 85% of the population agrees. Won’t you?
Safety knows
Hi all! My name is Dave Koeneke and I am the executive director of the Oklahoma Safety Council. Our council is a non-profit and our primary responsibility is to be a safety resource to companies throughout Oklahoma. Secondly, we are a resource to the public and we offer courses such as defensive driving, first aid and CPR to all that want to attend.
This is my first time to author a blog here and I am excited about the opportunity. There are many things that I would like to share with others about safety at work and at home. There is typically a bleed-over of our habits to work safely. How safely we perform our jobs at work will shape our beliefs for being safe at home and at play as well.
I might introduce a picture or two here and there in the future to show you situations or equipment that might help in safety education for you. I hope we have some fun here too, as safety seems like it can be a dry subject. It does pay to work and play safely because we want to be healthy and keep all of our fingers, toes and limbs in tact. Lord knows we all want to be able to play with our kids, grand kids and just be able to walk upright and enjoy life.
We have to learn to make safety a priority and a habit. If we do this second nature then our chances of being hurt go down considerably and our lives move along a whole lot better. So, I’ll hit on some safety subjects on a regular basis and if you have anything you want to hear about or comment on please fire away!
