NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH By Fay Wood, NW Chief Driving Safety - We All Can Do Our Part Distracted driving kills an average of 4,100+ per year nationwide. Also 465,000 injuries occur! Did you know that distracted driving isn’t just texting? This can be any activity that diverts a person’s attention away from driving. Text messaging is the most dangerous because it requires visual, manual and cognitive attention. Sending a text message takes a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds and 4.6 seconds is the equivalent of driving blind at 55 mph for the length of a football field. The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers is under age 22. In that group, 11% of drivers who died in a crash were reportedly distracted at the time of the fatal crash. NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH PRESENTS - IDENTITY THEFT, FRAUDS, AND SCAMS PREVENTION Neighborhood Watch welcomes Kathy Leigh from the Polk County Sheriff's Office Crime Prevention Unit to discuss Identity Theft, Frauds, and Scams on April 4 at 10 am in Ashton Tap & Grill. Coffee will be provided. Come with questions and learn about how to avoid becoming a victim. VIAL OF LIFE At a recent Monday Coffee presentation by Neighborhood Watch, the Vial of Life was presented by the Polk County Sheriff’s Department. This nationally recognized medical program is designed to aid emergency medical personnel by providing an individual's pertinent medical information. This information is readily available to emergency personnel, in the event you are unable to speak for yourself, or a member of your household is unable to speak for themselves. The program consists of a plastic vial, one sticker, and a medical form for each person in the household and is available free to the public. The medical form includes name, address, date of birth, emergency contact, allergies prescriptions, current medical status, physician's name and location. The completed medical forms are inserted into the capped vial, and placed on the upper righthand corner of the top shelf inside your refrigerator or placed in the refrigerator door, top shelf. The Vial of Life Sticker is attached to the outside of the refrigerator door. The sticker alerts emergency personnel of the completed vial's existence. (Please remember to print all information legibly and keep the information updated and current.) For more information on this program, please contact Crime Prevention at 863-298-6677. 21 All vehicles, including golf carts, must obey all stop signs and the 20 mph speed limit throughout Lake Ashton. Drivers, watch for pedestrians at all times. Obeying posted speed limit and traffic signs can help avert a potential tragedy.
22 Publizr Home