Create Safer Roads
Each April, the National Safety Council leads Distracted Driving Awareness Month to bring attention to the dangers of distracted driving and share simple steps you can take to avoid safety risks. Thanks to a sponsorship from The Home Depot, NSC is offering a full suite of free tools to help you keep yourself and others safe on the road:
Make Your Plan
Once you have your resources, it’s time to launch your safety plan. Use these ideas to engage your workers, help them understand the three main types of distraction and make an impact:
- Have your team take this new, interactive quiz to test their knowledge of distracted driving risks
- Start a meeting with this powerful new video featuring stories of survivors and advocates, then ask your workers about ways they can prevent distracted driving
- Attend this April 23 Distracted Driving Expert Panel webinar and learn the latest on how to keep your workforce safe
- Host a Just Drive Pledge competition to see which department or location can get the most team members to participate; use the completed certificate as proof of participation
- Choose a day to gather your team and take a photo with the #JustDrive sign; you can feature it on your social media channels to show your dedication to safety
- Create a digital or in-person “Why I Drive Safely” photo wall and ask staff to post photos of their loved ones on the wall
Thousands of people are killed and hundreds of thousands more are seriously injured in distracted driving crashes each year. Encourage your networks and colleagues to visit nsc.org/JustDrive to join you in this year’s campaign and help reduce the risks for all road users.
Show Us How You’re Participating
Every action to limit distracted driving makes a difference and helps create safer roads for us all. Show us how you, your workers and your loved ones are participating in Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Download free materials from this social media kit, and tag your posts with #JustDrive and #DDAM. Want to be featured on NSC social media channels? Send your story and photos to [email protected]
420 Safety Alarm
An employee’s personal life is greatly impacted after an impaired driving crash resulting in injuries. However, the implications do not fall solely on the individual. Employers also are affected when off-the-job incidents result in lost work time and create legal or insurance ramifications.
As April 20 draws near, a date associated with marijuana use also known as 420, take a moment to set the record straight. Driving while impaired is both dangerous and illegal. Unlike alcohol, the effects of marijuana (legally called cannabis) are not yet fully understood. However, research shows cannabis use:
- Decreases motor skills
- Slows reaction time
- Impairs judgment
These are all key ingredients to operating equipment and driving safely. In Texas, the use of low-THC marijuana is legal for patients who qualify under the Compassionate Use Program, however recreational use of marijuana is outlawed.
As marijuana legalization expands across the country, so do misconceptions. One pervasive myth is that legalization equates to safety. On the contrary, the increased availability of high-potency cannabis products amplifies the potential for impairment.
Cannabis Detection vs. Impairment
One unique challenge with cannabis is its detectability in the body. While alcohol is metabolized predictably and correlates directly to impairment, cannabis is stored in fat cells and can be detected for up to 30 days after use. Impairment depends on various factors, including frequency of use, method of intake and product potency. This disconnect between detection and impairment creates challenges for both employees and employers:
- For employees: Cannabis use days or weeks prior could result in failed drug tests, even if the employee is not impaired
- For employers: Removing THC from drug panels may increase workplace incidents and drug positivity rates post-incident
Education and Awareness
Keeping your employees safe is the ultimate goal, whether they commute to work or drive on the job. More than half of drivers (56%) involved in serious injury or fatal crashes across the U.S. test positive for at least one drug, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Here are two ways you can work to raise awareness of impairment safety risks:
Get free resources from NHTSA related to 420 and drug-impaired driving, including social media graphics, facts and talking points for use in your next safety meeting.
Get free Workplace Impairment Training from our team and get answers to all your questions, including:
- What factors and situations can cause impairment?
- What are common signs and symptoms of impairment?
Contact us to schedule an in-person session at your location.
By increasing awareness and promoting responsible choices, we can work together to prevent drug-impaired driving and create safer workplaces, safer roads and safer communities.
Welcome, Cody!
Please join us in welcoming Cody Stewart! He is the new director of the Our Driving Concern employer traffic safety programs at the National Safety Council. Cody joins NSC after spending more than 14 years in risk management, environmental health and safety and traffic safety at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
Stewart was selected as a subject matter expert to provide testimony for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2022 State of Texas Impaired Driving Program Assessment, thanks to his extensive work on alcohol-impaired driving countermeasures. Additionally, his research on prescription drug-impaired driving in Texas was published in the Texas Public Health Journal.
As a principal investigator, Stewart has led traffic safety grant projects on topics such as cannabis, ignition interlocks, and motorcycle training and licensing. His past research also includes a feasibility study for an all-offender DWI tracking system in Texas, comprehensive motorcycle crash analyses, blood alcohol concentration reporting, and offering training and technical assistance for Texas’ Crash Reporting and Analysis for Safer Highways system.