Red Thumb Reminder Day is May 14

The fourth annual Red Thumb Reminder Day is Tuesday, May 14. This event is to educate all ages—drivers and non-drivers—on the dangers of distracted driving from cell phone usage, impaired driving, and all other activities that take the driver’s attention and eyes away from driving safely.

New this year is the Save A Life Tour – a high-tech, interactive simulator program. The Save A Life Tour, sponsored by Nemont Telephone Cooperative, will be set up at the Glasgow High School gym where students from Opheim, Nashua, Saco and Hinsdale will join Glasgow students to hear the presentation and then participate in the simulator experience, an interactive, full-motion virtual reality experience to give participants a completely realistic, sober perspective on the effects of driving while impaired or distracted.

All ages are then welcome to join the fun activities downtown for the fourth Red Thumb Reminder Day Walk from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Participants may start the Walk at any of these four locations: in front of the City/County Library on 3rd Avenue South, the atrium of the Court House, The Loaded Toad, or participate in the Police Department/Fire Department activity at the end of the 3rd Ave South Block. Each of these locations will have an anti-texting and driving activity. Participants will earn a stamp at each location for their card with completed cards earning a RTRD 2019 t-shirt (while supplies last). Participants who complete their cards will also be entered in a drawing to win one of these awesome prizes: a Apple iPad 9.7” 32 GB WiFi space, a Samsung Galaxy 10.1” 16 GB, a Yeti Hopper 8 soft-sided cooler, coffee cards, wireless earbuds and speakers, Chamber Bucks and more!

At 6 p.m., the Save A Life Tour will be presented again at Glasgow High School and is free to everyone. Students are encouraged to attend again with their parents – all drivers can experience the simulator. Eugene’s Pizza is providing free dinner at this evening presentation.

On Red Thumb Reminder Day, we paint thumb nails “red” and hand out “red” thumb bands as an obvious reminder for all drivers to focus on driving safely. Each time someone opens a car door or places their hands on the steering wheel, the “red” thumbs will remind everyone to NOT text and drive. The downtown Walk focuses on texting and cell phone use as a primary reason for distracted driving with the goal of preventing 100 percent of accidents with this as the cause. All drivers should not use the cell phone in any way while driving and should minimize other distractions. With safety promotion and distracted driving prevention efforts ongoing in our community, we strive to reduce crashes and keep all drivers focused on the task at hand – driving safely.

We hope that everyone will participate on May 14.for our Red Thumb Reminder Day “Walk.” Come walk with us and participate in our activities – leave your thumb print, have a snack, try the obstacle course and seat belt convincer — to increase awareness of the dangers of texting and driving. Sign a pledge to never text and drive. Non-driver’s may sign a pledge to “remind your ride” to never text and drive. Paint your thumb nails “red,” get your card stamped with four stamps, get a t-shirt and be entered into a drawing to win one of our awesome prizes. You can’t possibly find anything more fun to do on a Tuesday, especially with supper provided by Eugene’s at 6 p.m. at the Glasgow High School!

Any sponsor or volunteer who would like to be a part of our Annual Red Thumb Reminder Day Walk, please call 406-228-6261. Our goal is to reach everyone in our community, to increase awareness of the dangers of texting and driving, and to change behaviors.

No life is worth sending or receiving a text message.

Please don’t text and drive! It can wait!