Page 31 - Suncor 360

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FULL CIRCLE
MAY 2014
360

Heads up, Suncor

What has two thumbs, two broken ankles and a really weak

cell phone signal?

A wexter at the bottom of a manhole.
message when she tripped and fell off a

pier into Lake Michigan.
“Um.what’s a wexter?” you might ask.
(“And how’d it end up at the bottom
Fodder for giggles indeed. But the real

of a manhole?”)
dangers of wexting are no laughing matter.
An Ohio State University study reported

To answer your irst question, ‘wexter’ is that in 2010, more than 1,500 pedestrians
the slangy term for someone who tries to were treated in U.S. emergency

combine two incompatible activities – rooms for injuries sustained
walking and texting – into a single while walking and using

perilous undertaking.
a mobile phone.

Which should make the answer to your

second question fairly obvious. A 2009
article in Wired magazine tells the true

story of 15-year-old Alexa Longueira,
who was walking along Victory Boulevard

in Staten Island when she fell into an

open manhole.
Such
The article’s author poses a fair question:
statistics have led
“Why didn’t she see it?” And then he some lawmakers to
delivers the unfortunate answer: “She was
make texting while
too intent on tapping out a text message to
notice the gaping gap in the sidewalk and walking a punishable no-no.
In 2012, Fort Lee, N.J. began issuing
just dropped straight on in.”
$85 ines to anyone caught texting while
crossing the street. A similar bill was later
One small victory for a manhole, one giant
misstep for mankind.
proposed in Nevada.

While Suncor hasn’t drafted a policy
But beware: it’s not just manholes that are
making examples of unsuspecting wexters.
against wexting, we urge all employees and
contractors to exercise common sense.

You’ve probably chuckled at the YouTube When your legs are taking you from point
A to point B, give your thumbs a rest and
video of a woman falling into a fountain
while wexting at a shopping mall. Or the keep your head up. Our Environment,

wexter caught by a hotel camera as he Health & Safety team reminds everyone
strode straight into a lobby wall. Or the that ‘eyes on path’ is a key precaution for

oblivious wexter in California who nearly avoiding slips, trips and falls.
collided with a 400-pound black bear that
Wherever our journey may take us, let’s
had wandered into the neighbourhood.
keep our eyes on the path and reach our
Then there’s the Michigan man who heard destination safely and responsibly!

“Oh gawd!” followed by a mighty splash.
Turns out his wife was typing a text