Plan.Meet.Repeat March April 2019 Issue book meet repeat march april | Page 10

Event Safety Corner….
W
elcome to the second installment of Event Safety
Corner! If you missed the first installment, I
urge you to read that first so that you see what
potential threats you may have already been exposed
to in driving from your home, stopping to get gas, and
grabbing a coffee on your way to the airport.
Each article in the Event Safety Corner will discuss and
bring awareness to various threats and the ways you
can improve your personal safety and well-being
before, during and after events.
In the past you may not have given much thought to
staying safe throughout the event or when traveling
to and from. However, every day we are reminded in
the news about threats to our safety that not only take
us off-guard, but seem to be occurring with increasing
frequency.
If you missed my last article, let me tell you briefly
who I am. My name is Pete Canavan, and I am a
Personal Safety Expert. My unique blend of personal and
professional expertise enables me to educate people on how
to safe and secure in both the online world and the physical
world. I have worked as an IT security consultant for
over 25 years, trained hundreds of men, women and
children in my role as a martial arts Master, kept college
students safe as a university public safety officer and
have also worked as an event security professional
protecting entertainers, vendors and attendees.
So now on to the next phase of our journey to the event!
Now that our car is fueled up, and we have our “fuel”
(coffee!) we head out onto the highway to drive to the
airport. Along the way, there will be challenges to
your safety when driving. Distractions are one of the
most dangerous threats to your personal safety that
you are in complete control over.
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Plan Meet Repeat Magazine March/April 2019
Your full attention should be on the task of driving, but
undoubtedly distractions such as talking on the phone,
sending texts, or even keeping an eye on your GPS all
divert your attention from the road in front of you. Keep
those distractions to a minimum, and use technologies
such as Bluetooth to talk on the phone and voice-to-text
features if you must send a text - when stopped at a
traffic light or stop sign, or better yet - pull over! Your
safety and your life are not worth the risk...waiting just
a little while longer to check and see what that new text
is that you just received is OK! We are so addicted to
technology and instant communications that it becomes
habitual to reach for our phone the minute we hear that
alert letting us know a new message, voicemail, tweet
or post has been received. Wait until it is safe to check
these for your sake and the sake of the other drivers on
the road.
Speaking of other drivers, dangers from other drivers
that may be distracted also pose a threat, so drive
defensively knowing that although you may be fully
engaged at the task at hand, other drivers may not be.
When you add in other road risks such as potholes, road
debris, dealing with construction areas, large trucks,
speeding motorcycles or sports cars, driving can be
stressful at any time! Another driver swerving to avoid
a pothole in the lane next to you could cross into your
lane and cause an accident. Keep your eyes on the road
and your hands upon the wheel! Even Jim Morrison
and the Doors knew how important that was – and
Roadhouse Blues was written way back in 1970 before we
had all this technology to distract us!
If you see a
problem before other drivers, it will allow you to take
measures to reduce or eliminate the chance of an
accident – and missing your flight!