Sgt. Brent Bernhardt of the Missouri State Highway Patrol was at Mark Twain Elementary School Wednesday trying to instill a habit in students that he hopes will last a lifetime. In fact, it’s a habit that can extend a life. The habit? Wearing a seatbelt.
“Wearing a seatbelt is nothing more than a three-second habit,” said Bernhardt, the public information and education officer for Troop B. “We know at a bare minimum that seatbelts give you a 45 to 50 percent great chance of surviving a traffic crash. When we can get people into that three-second habit of getting into their vehicle and buckling that seatbelt up we know we can save a lot of lives.”
Bernhardt used a rollover simulator as a teaching tool. First, Bernhardt spun the simulator with two dummies seatbelted in it. Next, the trooper showed children the dummies’ fate when inside the spinning simulator while not wearing their seatbelts. The contrast made a strong impression on students.
“I saw a baby dummy in a car crash and fall out the window. Then I saw another dummy’s leg fly out of the window and hit a piece of big metal,” said 8-year-old Will Musolino, a third grader at Mark Twain.
What lesson did 8-year-old Desiree Brown learn?
“To always put your seatbelt on so you can be safe,” said the third grader, who admitted up until now she has been “kind of good” about wearing a seatbelt.
Hearing both Will and Desiree cite the importance of wearing a seatbelt brought a smile to Bernhardt’s face.
“The fun thing about being around little children is they are very honest with you. After we show how the seatbelts do function they’ll tell you that they’re fired up about wearing seatbelts and energized as far as helping remind their moms and dads, brothers and sisters, and grandmas and grandpas to do the same,” he said.
Last year 992 people died on Missouri highways. It was the first time since 1993 that fewer than 1,000 people had lost their lives in vehicle accidents in the state.
“We’re trying to do everything that we can to keep those numbers low and even reduce or eliminate the number of fatalities that we have in our state, but we have to ask people to help do their part by driving safely and making sure that they buckle up and their kids are buckled up,” said Bernhardt.
To help raise seatbelt awareness, Bernhardt spends a good deal of time presenting safety demonstrations in the 16 counties which make up Troop B.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to get everybody in the state of Missouri to wear their seatbelt,” he said. “Everybody nationwide has a 100 percent guaranteed chance at some time in their life of being involved in a traffic crash. Insurance companies’ statistics show that each of us will be in a traffic crash once every 10 years of our lives. Getting into the habit of wearing a seatbelt is certainly one that will save a lot of people’s lives. If we can get on early with these kids and talk to them and convince them that seatbelts are the right thing to do we believe that they will get into that habit and follow that habit throughout their life.”
