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Larger-Than-Life Safety Drill

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By KLINT LOWRY

The Suncoast News

Published: November 5, 2008

HUDSON - When giving an informational presentation, visual aids can go a long way, especially visual aids that are more than 50 feet long.

As part of their Guard Your Life - Drive Alert on I-75 campaign and in marking Operation Safe Driver week, members of the Florida Department of Transportation's Motor Carrier Compliance Division and the Florida Trucking Association Road Team visited Hudson High School to add their expertise to the school's driver's education classes.

The road team is made up of professional truck drivers who donate their free time to educate the public about truck safety issues.

They've recently teamed up with DOT for the Guard Your Life campaign, which is being held in conjunction with a guardrail installation project along a stretch of that highway that is partially in Pasco County.

"Basically what we want to do is educate the public, especially the young students," said road team member Paul Medders. "We don't want to scare them, just educate them on the characteristics of the big trucks out on the road."

Their visit to Hudson High was a first for Pasco County schools and was coordinated thanks to driver education teacher Doreen Grote.

"I was at the YMCA in Hernando County, and they were giving a presentation," Grote said. "I thought, 'Boy, that would be a great thing, to have them give a presentation at Pasco schools.'

"

A lot of the presentation included things that are already part of the class, Grote said. Somehow, when it's officers in uniform and professional truckers saying it, it sinks in more, especially with those big visual aids.

After an in-class presentation, students stepped outside for some grand-sized show-and-tell. An 18-wheeler on loan from Publix was set up in the parking lot, allowing students to climb up into the cab so they could see for themselves how much a truck driver can - and more importantly - can't see.

The key part of the presentation is talking about the "No-Zone," those areas in front, behind and on either side of an 18-wheeler that other drivers should be conscious to avoid.

DOT patrol cruisers were parked on either side of the truck so that as the students took their turns behind the wheel of the truck, they could see how the No-Zone gets its name.

"People get out of the truck and say, 'wow, I never really realized the area was that big. Whole cars disappear,'

" Medders said.

Sightlines aren't the only reason the No-Zone is dangerous, he added. Truck tires are inflated to 100 pounds per square inch.

"When it comes apart, it comes apart," he said. A big chunk of truck tire is a dangerous projectile. Even driving over a big enough piece that has landed in the road can do a lot of damage.

DOT's Office of Motor Carrier Compliance director, Col. David Dees, used the occasion to stress the importance of safety belts by poking fun at human nature.

You're driving along with a passenger in the front seat and you have to stop fast, he said to the students. What does a driver do? Stick out the right arm to "stop" the passenger from lurching forward.

"I call that the wet noodle," Dees said, sticking his arm out. He calls it that because that's about how much good it will do.

He picked out two of the biggest, strongest guys in the class to run face-first into the side of the truck, but to put up their arms to stop themselves one step before they hit.

Of course, the boys refused, which made Dees' point. Sticking out an arm isn't going to stop a passenger from flying forward, but a seat belt will. You might wind up with a bruise along the ribs, but it beats a face full of windshield.

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