The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) will kick off its annual Operation Safe Driver Week July 11, and it will continue through July 17. This year’s focus will be speeding violations, but law-enforcement personnel will also be on the lookout for any drivers who are engaging in risky driving behaviors — such as reckless or distracted driving.
Those drivers will be looking at a warning or a citation.
When I think of safe drivers, I see a direct connection to health. I believe that to be safe, you must be well. Hopefully, we are all working hard to be safe drivers every day of every week. Driver fatigue is one of the leading causes of accidents and traffic violations. When we are fatigued, it can affect us both mentally, by causing us to make poor decisions, and physically, by causing slow reactions.
In the fitness world, fatigue typically is due to poor hydration (running our personal batteries to low before refilling) — and when we do refill, it’s generally with high-sugar drinks or power drinks, leaving us wanting more and with crashing blood levels. Poor food choices, such as high-calorie, sugar- and flour-laden snacks, don’t help either.
Let’s review solutions. Upgrade the fuel you’re putting in your personal engine. Pick a healthy protein, such as chicken, tuna, eggs, turkey or other lean meats. Be sure to take a good multivitamin. Eat more fish, and snack on almonds, walnuts and oatmeal. Watch out for foods laden with partially hydrogenated oils and saturated fats, and cut fried foods.
Also, don’t forget to work in that workout. Walking, stretching, push-ups, body-weight squats, mountain climbers and sit-ups are just a few of the things you can do to stay active. Use your rig as your personal gym — and don’t forget to join in our free driver fitness competitions to win big driver prizes.
Following these simple steps in moderation, will help you not only be a safer and alert driver, but hopefully also a driver who is not stopped during Operation Safe Driver Week.
Bob Perry is a regular contributor to The Trucker. He has spent nearly the past four decades on a mission to educate professional drivers and share life-changing products and services to help them live healthier lives while on the road. Recognized throughout the transportation industry, from bus drivers to over-the-road professional drivers, Perry has played an important role in creating a paradigm shift helping regulatory agencies, private and public sector entities, and consumers understand the current health challenges of the professional driver. He has participated as a wellness advocate in several roundtable discussions, large audience groups and small forums as well as going “curbside” through a national truck stop tour.
Bob’s articles have been featured in The Trucker and a number of other national transportation industry publications and is the host of a weekly wellness call produced by Rolling Strong. Bob has been a regular guest on RedEye Radio and Land-Line Radio, and is often an invited guest on Sirius radio shows. He has been featured in the New York Times, Men’s Health Magazine, Drug Store News, American Road Magazine, WSJ, NPR, ABC National Radio, as well as hundreds of daily newspapers. He has appeared on television news shows across the nation, including a featured TV segment on ABC NightLine News.
