Interactive Safety Seminar teaches proper procedures
Illinois State Police Trooper Delila Huerta demonstrates a vehicle rollover using a simulator.
DOE's Jon Cooper strapped on a pair of goggles and climbed into a golf cart beside an Illinois State Police trooper.
Moments later, while navigating a makeshift driving course, Cooper ran over an orange cone. Giggles erupted from his colleagues.
He hit another cone. Then another. More giggles.
Normally, Cooper isn't a bad driver. But by wearing specially designed goggles, the DOE Fermi Site Office ES&H team leader experienced what happens to your senses when driving under the influence. He called the experience, which was part of an Interactive Vehicle Safety Seminar held on Aug. 8, sobering.
"The goggles distort your vision. It messes with your balance," said Trooper Delila Huerta. "The goggles create the physical symptoms of being drunk. It messes with your equilibrium."
A few dozen people attended the event, which was a chance to learn about proper vehicle safety procedures and precautions from the Illinois State Police, the Kane County Sherriff's Office and other local organizations. Staff from Kane County's Safe Kids program, organized by Mooseheart's head of security Ron Smith, were also on site to install and check childrens' car seats.
During the event, Huerta operated a rollover simulator where a car containing dummies not wearing seatbelts rolled on a machine. The dummies flew out of the car's windows.
The seminar, initiated by Fermilab Security Supervisor Chuck Morrison and organized by Traffic Safety Subcommittee member Rick Reinert, highlighted the importance of not drinking and driving, and of using childrens' car seats and wearing seatbelts.
"I think that this event was important to make people aware of safety for their children and themselves," Reinert said. "We want our employees to practice vehicle safety whether they're driving on site or off."
--Rhianna Wisniewski
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