|
|
|
More than 1,000 Soldiers, family members and other members of the Fort Leavenworth community, with safety scorecards in hand, learned the many facets of personal and recreational safety during the 15th Military Police Brigade Safety Fair and Motorcycle Mentorship Ride May 3.
For the Soldiers of the 15th MP Brigade a safety scorecard was used to show they completed the required and optional training during the safety fair. Their mandatory classes were on hot weather safety and the Save-A-Life system. The motorcycle safety inspection and presentation was also mandatory for motorcycle riders from the brigade.
In addition, Soldiers had to complete four out of seven of the following to qualify for a free gift drawing and to meet brigade safety goals: Seat Belt Convincer, watercraft safety, hunting safety, swimming safety, sexually transmitted disease awareness, all-terrain vehicle safety and 4x4 safety. The overall goal of the training was to make Soldiers and families think about safety during their spring and summer activities.
Department of the Army Police Officer Kelly Beckham was one of several law enforcement officers available at the Ident-A-Kid booth at the safety fair. The booth provided parents a kit to help identify their child in case of an emergency.
There are different kits available depending on the age of a child. The kits include the collection of DNA, fingerprints and pictures of the child.
Beckham said that if anything were to happen to a child, the kit can be very helpful because while the appearance of the child may change, his or her DNA and fingerprints won’t.
Jeremiah Newson, Save-A-Life tour manager, provided a briefing and a drinking-and-driving simulator to show how impaired a person’s judgement can be when drinking.
The simulator, which looks much like a video game, gives “a sober perspective of what it is like to drive under the influence of alcohol,” Newson said.
Newson said it is the easiest and safest way to show a sober person the effects of drinking and driving or distracted driving. He said it was an effective way to increase awareness of the effects of drunk driving.
Technical Trooper Howard Dickinson, public resource and information officer from the Kansas Highway Patrol, demonstrated the effects and benefits of a seatbelt during a crash. The Seat Belt Convincer allows a subject to be belted into a seat and experience the effect of a 5 mph crash into a fixed object.
According to Dickinson, multipling a person’s weight by the speed they are travelling will give the amount of force exerted on his or her seatbelt in a crash. If the seatbelt isn’t buckled, that force will go somewhere else, such as into the windshield, another passenger or the car. For example a 200-pound person going 5 mph can put 1,000 pounds of force on a seatbelt.
Dickinson wants everyone to “make sure you wear your seatbelt. It should be the first thing you do when getting in a car.”
Anne Saults, the Riders Edge program manager from Worth Harley-Davidson brought a stationary motorcycle to the safety fair. Saults said the simulator provides a situation “where you can actually get on the bike and take the fear factor away from dropping it.
“It’s in a secure spot where we can teach them how to shift gears, so it kind of gives them that beginning feeling about what it is all about,” she said.
The hands-on demonstration allowed riders of all levels to see that there is more to motorcycling than getting on and going; it’s also about safety.
More than 80 Soldiers signed up to take part in the motorcycle mentorship ride and Harley-Davidson factory tour as part of their motorcycle training. Three groups rode 83 miles with three scheduled stops, for a total of four hours to prepare them for the riding season.
Off-road safety was the hot topic for Sgt. 1st Class James Farish, from the 15th MP Brigade S3. Farish stressed the ideas of never going out alone and the safe use of a steel winch cable.
As part of this safety lesson, two area off-road organizations demonstrated winch safety, tire changing and proper off-road safety, and informed people about the legal aspects of off-roading.
Ben Williams, a representative from Austin Trailers and Motorsports and a former MP, shared his own story about ATV safety.
Williams said he once had an accident while riding. His wife called the park rangers, who were able to find him and take him to the hospital because he had told her where he was going and when he expected to be home.
“If I had been out there just a couple more hours, I could have died,” Williams said.
More than 1,000 Soldiers, family members and other members of the Fort Leavenworth community, with safety scorecards in hand, learned the many facets of personal and recreational safety during the 15th Military Police Brigade Safety Fair and Motorcycle Mentorship Ride May 3.
For the Soldiers of the 15th MP Brigade a safety scorecard was used to show they completed the required and optional training during the safety fair. Their mandatory classes were on hot weather safety and the Save-A-Life system. The motorcycle safety inspection and presentation was also mandatory for motorcycle riders from the brigade.
In addition, Soldiers had to complete four out of seven of the following to qualify for a free gift drawing and to meet brigade safety goals: Seat Belt Convincer, watercraft safety, hunting safety, swimming safety, sexually transmitted disease awareness, all-terrain vehicle safety and 4x4 safety. The overall goal of the training was to make Soldiers and families think about safety during their spring and summer activities.
Department of the Army Police Officer Kelly Beckham was one of several law enforcement officers available at the Ident-A-Kid booth at the safety fair. The booth provided parents a kit to help identify their child in case of an emergency.
There are different kits available depending on the age of a child. The kits include the collection of DNA, fingerprints and pictures of the child.
Beckham said that if anything were to happen to a child, the kit can be very helpful because while the appearance of the child may change, his or her DNA and fingerprints won’t.
Jeremiah Newson, Save-A-Life tour manager, provided a briefing and a drinking-and-driving simulator to show how impaired a person’s judgement can be when drinking.
The simulator, which looks much like a video game, gives “a sober perspective of what it is like to drive under the influence of alcohol,” Newson said.
Newson said it is the easiest and safest way to show a sober person the effects of drinking and driving or distracted driving. He said it was an effective way to increase awareness of the effects of drunk driving.
Technical Trooper Howard Dickinson, public resource and information officer from the Kansas Highway Patrol, demonstrated the effects and benefits of a seatbelt during a crash. The Seat Belt Convincer allows a subject to be belted into a seat and experience the effect of a 5 mph crash into a fixed object.
According to Dickinson, multipling a person’s weight by the speed they are travelling will give the amount of force exerted on his or her seatbelt in a crash. If the seatbelt isn’t buckled, that force will go somewhere else, such as into the windshield, another passenger or the car. For example a 200-pound person going 5 mph can put 1,000 pounds of force on a seatbelt.
Dickinson wants everyone to “make sure you wear your seatbelt. It should be the first thing you do when getting in a car.”
Anne Saults, the Riders Edge program manager from Worth Harley-Davidson brought a stationary motorcycle to the safety fair. Saults said the simulator provides a situation “where you can actually get on the bike and take the fear factor away from dropping it.
“It’s in a secure spot where we can teach them how to shift gears, so it kind of gives them that beginning feeling about what it is all about,” she said.
The hands-on demonstration allowed riders of all levels to see that there is more to motorcycling than getting on and going; it’s also about safety.
More than 80 Soldiers signed up to take part in the motorcycle mentorship ride and Harley-Davidson factory tour as part of their motorcycle training. Three groups rode 83 miles with three scheduled stops, for a total of four hours to prepare them for the riding season.
Off-road safety was the hot topic for Sgt. 1st Class James Farish, from the 15th MP Brigade S3. Farish stressed the ideas of never going out alone and the safe use of a steel winch cable.
As part of this safety lesson, two area off-road organizations demonstrated winch safety, tire changing and proper off-road safety, and informed people about the legal aspects of off-roading.
Ben Williams, a representative from Austin Trailers and Motorsports and a former MP, shared his own story about ATV safety.
Williams said he once had an accident while riding. His wife called the park rangers, who were able to find him and take him to the hospital because he had told her where he was going and when he expected to be home.
“If I had been out there just a couple more hours, I could have died,” Williams said.
