Staying Safe During the Long Weekend

The August Civic long week­end is final­ly here and as one of the busiest week­ends of the sum­mer, it’s about to become even more busy with the var­i­ous activ­i­ties tak­ing place through­out the city: con­certs, music fes­ti­vals, food fest and trav­el activ­i­ties. Long week­ends like these are the per­fect oppor­tu­ni­ty to hang with fam­i­ly and friends, relax from a tough work week and have fun.  Whether it’s going on long trip, a day’s out­ing or vis­it­ing one of the cities events, peo­ple love long week­ends.

How­ev­er, regard­less of the activ­i­ty, it’s impor­tant to stay safe dur­ing the long week­end. Through­out the years, sum­mer long week­ends have had a his­to­ry of being promi­nent for acci­dents and fatal­i­ties. With the Civic long week­end hav­ing a his­to­ry of being an unsafe and dead­ly week­end, here are some tips to stay safe and have fun this long week­end:

• If you’re going on a trip, make sure to get your car checked out before you leave. You don’t want to start off your long week­end with any unsus­pect­ed sur­pris­es on the road. Also make sure to keep car sup­plies in the truck just in case an emer­gency does arise.

• Dri­ve safe­ly. With sev­er­al activ­i­ties tak­ing place through­out the city, it‘s impor­tant to have some patience while on the road as many peo­ple will be trav­el­ling in and out of the city. Remem­ber to also watch your speed this week­end as offi­cers will be patrolling the roads and look­ing for dis­tract­ed and speed­ing dri­vers. With a bit of patience, it will help to keep every­one safe on the road.

• If you are trav­el­ling by car this week­end, take a break from the DVD’s and hand held games and play some fun road games. It’ll help keep every­one upbeat dur­ing the dri­ve and will allow for the time to fly by.

• While on the road, don’t drink and dri­ve. It’s impor­tant to keep this in mind every time you dri­ve. Drink­ing and dri­ving is a dan­ger­ous haz­ard on the road, as it puts your life and the lives of oth­ers.

• If you’re head­ing onto the lake, make sure that the boat has been checked out and that enough life jack­ets are present on the boat. In case of an acci­dent, a life jack­et can save a per­son­’s life, even if they can swim.

• If you are going swim­ming this week­end, don’t con­sume alco­hol before a swim as it can impair your vision and judge­ment. Also, nev­er leave chil­dren unat­tend­ed while swim­ming.

Still don’t know what you’re doing this week­end? If you’re not leav­ing the city, there are plen­ty of activ­i­ties for you to choose from to enjoy the week­end. Catch a con­cert at Echo Beach or attend the Carib­ana Grand Parade this Sat­ur­day, which wraps up the Sco­tia­bank Caribbean Car­ni­val or if you’re into sports, check out the Rogers cup at the Rex­all Cen­ter.