March can be such a tease. The calendar tells us we’ve almost made it through winter and should embrace spring on March 20. One day the temperature may reach 50 and you’re tempted to pull out the shorts. The next it’s back to single digits and you’re reaching for the snowbrush again. It’s our own version of March Madness.
March is also precarious time when it comes to traffic safety. This year, the first half of the month brings us both Fat Tuesday – the end of Mardi Gras – and St. Patrick’s Day. While St. Patrick’s Day is more popular in Minnesota, both have become opportunities for revelry. And with revelry comes the risk of impaired driving. Early March is a great time to reinforce messages about planning sober rides to avoid being cited by law enforcement (and those Driving While Impaired charges can cost you upwards of $10,000) or worse involved in a crash with injuries or fatalities.
There’s a third March traffic safety challenge. While the days are naturally growing longer, each year we experience the shock to our systems that comes from setting our clocks forward as we shift to Daylight Saving Time. Our clocks “spring forward” at 2 a.m., on Sunday, March 9. That seemingly small act generates danger on the roads with studies showing a 6% rise in fatal car crashes during the first week after the time change, primarily attributed to driver fatigue due to sleep deprivation from the lost hour of sleep. A reminder to colleagues, family and friends the week of March 2 can help them make incremental sleep adjustments and be in a safety-first mindset for post-time change driving.
Speaking of planning and education, we’re excited about what we’ve got on the calendar for traffic safety advocates as March draws to a close. As you know, April is national Distracted Driving Awareness Month, the time when we shine the spotlight on Law enforcement officers nationwide working together to enforce hands-free, texting and distracted-driving laws. Stay tuned for details, but plan now to use the exciting tools we’re developing to reduce the number of distracted driving crashes, injuries and deaths.
Yours in traffic safety,
Lisa Kons
Minnesota NETS Coordinator
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