Safety campaign aims to put the boots to distracted driving
May 18, 2010 – The John Petropoulos Memorial Fund (JPMF) is promoting traffic and workplace safety during a brief tour of Southern Alberta this week.
To commemorate National EMS Week (May 16-22) and National Road Safety Week (May 18-24), the JPMF will be making stops in Medicine Hat on Tuesday, May 18th and in Lethbridge on Wednesday, May 19th to discuss traffic and workplace safety. Time permitting, the JPMF will also be making stops in other parts of Southern Alberta.
JPMF Managing Director Ian Wilson will be meeting with members of the Alberta Motor Transport Association, Regional Traffic Safety Coordinators and emergency responders – including police, fire and EMS personnel – to discuss the Memorial Fund’s Put Yourself in Our Boots workplace safety campaign, which aims to reduce preventable injuries & fatalities and promote workplace safety for first responders.
“Because emergency responders are out working on roads and highways, the campaign takes into account traffic safety,” says Wilson, adding the EMS version of the Put Yourself in Our Boots PSA tackles the issue of distracted driving.
“We want the public to know that even though they are going to – or leaving from – their workplace each day, they are entering someone else’s workplace as soon as they get behind the wheel. And what might be an inconvenience to you while you’re driving could be a matter of life and death for first responders.”
The Put Yourself in Our Boots campaign includes a series of 30-second TV and radio public service announcements (PSAs), which reflect the dangers faced by police, fire and EMS personnel at unsafe workplaces. The TV PSAs have been airing throughout Canada – including across Southern Alberta – since Feb 1, 2010. The radio PSAs will begin airing later this month.
For more information about the Put Yourself in Our Boots campaign, go to www.OurBoots.ca.
Alternatively, you can contact:
Ian Wilson
Managing Director
John Petropoulos Memorial Fund
403-891-4269
