Don't Drink and Drive

December is a merry month for all of us. We have family gatherings and plenty of parties to attend.
With all this merrymaking come dangers. Many of us have a drink or two at holiday parties. But others really overdo things.
Moderate drinking isn't necessarily bad in and of itself. However, it can be deadly when mixed with driving. You certainly don't want to take that risk.
Other drivers aren't so considerate. They think nothing of getting behind the wheel after a few drinks.
So, the government has designated December National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month.
Today's Cool Site provides a wealth of information on drunk and drugged driving. You'll find links to statistics and sites to help prevent impaired driving.
You can also learn about state DUI laws. You'll even find links to services that help those with substance abuse problems.
I urge you to designate a driver if you're planning to drink. And keep taxi numbers handy for those who may need a ride.

Here is the LINK

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Memorandum
To:    All DOI Employees
From:    Deputy Secretary

Subject:    Prohibition on Texting While Driving

People must divide their attention between the road ahead and their phones when they text while driving.

Recent deadly crashes involving drivers distracted by text messaging while driving highlight a growing danger.  Text messaging causes drivers to take their eyes off the road and at least one hand off the steering wheel, endangering both themselves and others.  President Obama recently issued Executive Order 13513, “Federal Leadership on Reducing Text Messaging While Driving.”  This important order prohibits Federal employees from text messaging while doing any of the following:

·    Driving Government-owned, Government-leased, or Government-rented vehicles (GOVs);
·    Driving privately-owned vehicles (POV) while on official Government business; and
·    Using electronic equipment supplied by the Government (including, but not limited to, cell phones, Blackberries, or other electronic devices) while driving.

They do learn fast!

A Federal Government-wide prohibition on the use of text messaging while driving on official business or while using Government-supplied equipment will help save lives, reduce injuries, and set an example for state and local governments, private employers, and individual drivers.

Texting or text messaging means reading from or entering data into any handheld or other electronic device, including SMS texting, e-mailing, instant messaging, obtaining navigational information, or engaging in any other form of electronic data retrieval or electronic data communication.

In addition, the Executive Order requires Federal agencies to take steps to encourage Federal contractors, subcontractors, recipients, and sub recipients of financial assistance to adopt and enforce their own policies that ban employees from texting while driving GOVs or company-owned, company-leased, or company-rented vehicles or while driving POVs on official Government business or when performing work for, or on behalf of, the Government.  Those entities are further encouraged to educate their employees and to urge voluntary compliance with a texting ban for off-duty employees.

Is this you??!!

All DOI employees are directed to comply with E.O. 13513 immediately, and human capital, procurement, and other applicable teams are directed to update all relevant policies and procedures to include the express prohibitions of the Order as soon as possible.  In addition, employees and contractors are strongly encouraged to refrain from off-duty text messaging on personal devices while operating POVs.

I thought this was Rhonda!

Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 2, 2009

President Obama has banned federal employees from text messaging when they are behind the wheel of government vehicles and from texting in their own cars if they use government-issued phones or are on official business.

The ban, in the form of an executive order signed Wednesday night, was announced Thursday by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at the culmination of a two-day meeting on the issue of distracted driving.

"It shows that the federal government is taking the lead," LaHood said. "This is a big deal."

LaHood said Obama's order also encourages federal contractors and others who do business with the government to bar their employees from texting while driving company vehicles.

LaHood said his department is developing permanent restrictions on use of mobile devices by rail operators, interstate truck and bus operators, and school bus drivers. The parameters of those rules have not been established, he said.

The gathering in Washington of 300 federal and state officials to discuss growing concerns about cellphone use and texting on the highways ended with no clear plan for addressing the issue. There was general agreement -- supported by public polling and anecdotal evidence of highway mayhem -- that use of iPods and BlackBerries has become a serious hazard.

The District and 18 states, including Maryland and Virginia, have banned texting while driving to different degrees.

In urging the other states to adopt similar rules, LaHood declined to say whether he favored using the same big-stick approach that encouraged states to reduce the legal intoxication limit to .08 blood alcohol level and to increase the drinking age to 21. Many states complied with those federal standards only after their highway funding was threatened.

"We're going to work with Congress on this issue," said LaHood, a former House member. "I've been around long enough to know better than to talk about these things before I talk with them."

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has estimated that at any given moment during daylight hours, 812,000 drivers are using hand-held cellphones. NHTSA said that equates to 11 percent of the vehicles on the road.

Previous research by the Harvard Center of Risk Analysis found that cellphone use contributed to 6 percent of all crashes, or 636,000 a year, resulting in 342,000 injuries and 2,600 deaths.

Spokesmen for Federal Express and United Parcel Service, two among the nation's largest and most electronically connected truck fleets, said their operations would not be impacted by LaHood's proposed restrictions on cellphone use and texting by their drivers.

Both firms use high-tech tracking systems to follow packages from source to destination, but they prohibit their drivers from using them or other hand-held communication devices while their vehicles are in motion.

"It's a safety issue," said Jim McCluskey of FedEx, which has 43,000 vehicles on the road.

UPS uses two-way communication devices in its fleet of 100,000 vehicles.

"But when they're underway, it's two hands on the steering wheel," said Dan McMackin, public relations manager. "When the vehicle's moving, it can't receive two-way messages, so this won't be a problem for us."

It is FIRE PREVENTION WEEK.  So I need to remind you to replace the batteries in the smoke detectors - especially at your house.  Call you home answering machine right now and leave yourself a message to replace those batteries (usually 9V).

Fire Prevention

DO IT NOW!!!

Richard

CPR Class at TIMU

CPR Class was held on Monday the 22nd at the Timucuan Preserve Headquarters Building. There was good attendance with most of the participants being from the Maintenance Division. The total attendance was 14.

The Instructor was very good. Just a few to many stories. LOL

Everyone in the class was passes both the CPR and First Aid. Good Job everyone!

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