Taskforce urges safe driving

SANDERS COUNTY - School is out and vacations have begun! Desk chairs sit empty while co-workers enjoy their time away from the job. Kids are blazing around the house ready for non-stop entertainment. Phones are ringing off the hook and swim towels are drying on the deck. Meanwhile, at work the copier has been jammed for two days and the office plants are wilting. And you, one of the few still pulling a 9 to 5, you are left scrambling to tend to the needs of your clients, your children, as well as those of your vacationing colleagues. Productivity is suffering. Thank goodness they’ll be back on the job soon and you can take your turn, with your family, on your vacation. But what if they don’t return?

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the Fourth of July holiday begins the worst of the “100 Deadliest Days of Summer” – the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day. One hundred sixty one people are killed in car accidents in the U.S. per day. Forty percent of these result from drunk driving.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of both on-and off-the-job injuries, costing employers billions of dollars annually in medical care, legal expenses, property damage, and lost productivity. The average crash costs an employer $16,500. When a worker has an on-the-job crash that results in an injury, the cost to their employer is approximately $74,000. Costs can exceed $500,000 when a fatality is involved. Off-the-job crashes are costly to employers as well. Costs to employers is one thing, the cost to family is another. The cost of a drunk driving crash for a family ranges from $99,000 to $4,000,000. Beyond finances, the real cost is time and relationships lost due to significant injury or possibly death.

The following are recommended safety tips from the Sanders County DUI Task Force and the Sanders/Mineral Buckle Up Coalition, to help keep your family and your employees safe during the higher risk months of summer:

• Have a plan to get yourself and your guests home safely. This will help avoid confusion later in the day as festivities wind down.

• Know your limit. Especially if you are consuming alcoholic beverages, make sure you eat and drink water. Plan to leave with enough time between drinking and getting behind the wheel.

• Be careful with medications. If you are taking over-the-counter painkillers, antibiotics or any type of drugs, understand the effects of mixing alcohol with them and please make sure that you do not travel with an overabundance of narcotic pain medication. The theft and sale of such medications is fast on the rise among teenagers and poses a significant danger to the youth of our community.

• Be respectful of non-drinking guests. If you are hosting or attending a party, be respectful of those who choose not to drink. They may be a designated driver, or have medical or personal reasons for turning down alcohol.

• Be a responsible host. If you are serving alcohol at your party, make sure your guests get enough food and water. Also, have a plan to deal with a guest who has had too much alcohol and is attempting to get behind the wheel. In addition to the potential risk of injury to your guest or other motorists, you could also be held liable for over-serving guests in the event of an accident.

• Be wary of drunk drivers. Even if you have been responsible, remember that others on the road may not have been. Be aware of drunk drivers and report any suspicious drivers to local police.

• Lastly, and of equal weight and importance, remind all guests to buckle up for their drive home. Seatbelts save nearly 12,000 lives and prevent 325,000 serious injuries in America each year. During a crash, anyone not wearing a seatbelt will slam into the steering wheel, windshield or other parts of the interior. They may collide with other occupants or be ejected from the vehicle. Although observed safety belt use in Montana nears 80 percent, an increase to 87 - 94 percent of Montanans using seatbelts would save an estimated 20-30 lives each year. That number increases to 75 additional lives saved if seatbelt use were 100 percent.

A key to having a safe and happy summer includes responsible alcohol consumption, watchfulness on the roads, being well-rested when traveling, and buckling everyone up properly-every time, every trip.

Stay safe for your family, for your job, and for your summer.