(PRINCETON, NJ – OCTOBER 7, 2013) – You
wouldn’t get very far on your morning commute with an empty tank, yet many of
us hit the roads each morning without refueling ourselves. As one of the tips included in this year’s
Drive Safely Work Week (DSWW) campaign reminds us, breakfast really is the most
important meal of the day.
DSWW is an annual safety campaign put
forth by the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS). The campaign, which takes place October 7-11,
2013, contains numerous tips for businesses to use to remind their employees
about important safety issues. NAFA
Fleet Management Association is proud to help promote the annual campaign and
recommends businesses download the free materials available at www.trafficsafety.org for their
employees.
Monday’s tip deals with presenteeism, the act of attending work
even when someone is too sick, too stressed, or too distracted to be
productive. The DSWW tip reminds us that
even if we’re healthy, we still may be guilty of behind-the-wheel
presenteeism.
“After eight to twelve hours without
eating, our bodies and brains are ready to refuel. Not eating breakfast before your morning
commute is like driving your car on an empty gas tank,” explains the tip, which
points out findings from “The Cognitive Effects of Breakfast” by Mindlab
Laboratory. According to the UK study,
eating breakfast:
- Improves mental and physical performances throughout the day
- Reduces anxiety significantly when faced with a challenging situation
- Improves response time
- Improves hand-eye coordination significantly
In other words, eating breakfast
contributes to safe driving. Other tips
include getting the recommended 7.5 to 8 hours of sleep each night. To do this, DSWW recommends going to bed at
the same time each night; turning off electronics an hour before bedtime;
cutting down your caffeine intake; and easing into your sleep routine to give
your body time to transition from the active day to bedtime drowsiness.
Drive Safely Work Week, which has
been sponsored by NETS since 1996, encourages businesses to utilize a free
campaign toolkit to help educate employees on the importance of safety. This
year’s campaign is entitled, “Gear up for safe driving:
Mind-Body-Vehicle”. It highlights how
being mindful of physical and mental wellness – along with the “health” of your
vehicle – are all connected in making us safer drivers.
Safe driving is essential to the
fleet managers who belong to NAFA, a group that collectively manages several
million vehicles travelling on North American roads each day. NAFA has lent its
support to the annual campaign for the past several years through a series of
articles in NAFA publications such as FLEETSolutions
magazine, NAFAConnection newsletter,
press releases, and email blasts; as well as giving safety a prominent platform
at the annual Institute & Expo conference and the creation of a committee
devoted entirely to safety topics.
About NAFA Fleet Management Association
NAFA is the world's premier
non-profit association for professionals who manage fleets of sedans, public
safety vehicles, trucks, and buses of all types and sizes, and a wide range of
military and off-road equipment for organizations across the globe. NAFA is the
association for the diverse vehicle fleet management profession regardless of
organizational type, geographic location or fleet composition. NAFA's Full and
Associate Members are responsible for the specification, acquisition,
maintenance and repair, fueling, risk management, and remarketing of more than
3.5 million vehicles including in excess of 1.1 million trucks of which 350
thousand are medium- and heavy-duty trucks. For more information visit http://www.nafa.org
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