The Houston Canoe Club
is a Paddlesports Risk Management Club Sign the Waiver HCC
Danger on the roads While our main concern as a paddling club is safety while on the water, we also use cars and trucks in many of our activities. There is a huge amount of danger while traveling our roads. It is your responsibility to avoid an accident, either if you are the cause, or if another driver or road conditions are the cause. Source: Peninsula Daily News In 2014, 32,675 people died traveling US roadways. 89 people per day. Nearly double that number were injured in vehicle accidents. While traveling to or from a paddling event, the dangers of driving are increased. I know that I am usually tired from it being too early in the morning, or too late at night. I usually have spent hours trying to pack, if I am going to an event, or have played too hard at the event, if I am on the way home. If I am shuttling from a put-in to a take out, I may be driving on unfamiliar roads, in the dark. Combining all those means I am an accident waiting to happen. Avoiding those extra dangers might mean stopping to nap, or stopping to look more closely at a map. Missing your race team while supporting them during a race does not justify hurrying through unfamiliar roads in the dark and causing an accident. You won’t make it to support them if you are stuck in an accident, either. And it isn’t enough to just watch out for yourself. Two or three out of every FIVE other cars on the road are driving while distracted or impaired; either texting, drowsy, or, um, chemically augmented. Source: textinganddrivingsafety.com Sleepy According to the National Sleep Foundation's 2005 Sleep in America poll, 60% of adult drivers – about 168 million people – say they have driven a vehicle while feeling drowsy in the past year, and more than one-third, (37% or 103 million people), have actually fallen asleep at the wheel! Facts and Stats : Drowsy Driving – Stay Alert, Arrive Alive Sleeping while drowsy. Chemically augmented: In 2014, 9,967 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. Source: Department of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic Safety Facts 2014 data: alcohol-impaired driving. Washington, DC: NHTSA; 2015 [cited 2016 Feb 5]. Available at URL: www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812231.pdf Make it home, SAFE, y’all! See you On The Water!