At my place of employment, every quarter, we get a copy of
Family Safety & Health a magazine published by the National Safety Council.
It covers things like workplace safety, tips on how to avoid sun exposure, advice about children's toys, etc.
This issue, one of the articles entitled,
Riding High, talks about the rollover risks of SUVs (check how yours rates here - http://www.safercar.gov (http://"linky") and speaks about backover risks.
Here is a blurb:
Quote from: Riding High
A number of automakers are marketing technologies designed to prevent such incidents, including cameras that enable drivers to see what is behind their vehicles before they move. However, a NHTSA report submitted to Congress in February claimed that these technologies are not effective at preventing backover incidents.
The agency said it would launch a national public education campaign on backovers and continue research to improve technologies such as rear cameras.
In the meantime, parents should teach children not to play in driveways, and drivers should perform a walk-around inspection before moving their vehicles to ensure no one is in their path.
(emphasis mine)
I think this article in general speaks loads for the simple things CAP does in regards to vehicle safety, involving their vehicle inspections and checks, etc. However, I found this last paragraph rather disturbing. The wording implies that until the research is done and there are better technologies, that parents should be responsible for teaching their children.
When did teaching children not to stand behind a vehicle or play in the road, etc become a non-standard practice? The implication is that making sure that you don't back over someone in your car is the auto manufacturers responsibility rather than the drivers...
I remember as a cadet thinking, "why are we having this safety briefing...I know if it is 100 degrees out I need to drink water...," but as I get older, I see the shortcomings of what people are actually taught, and what common sense has been lost - which makes me appreciate the CAP safety program a little more.
Cool.
On a side note, subscriptions to that magazine might be a cool idea for our safety officers. One year subscription appears to be $58, though! :o
https://secure.nsc.org/onlinecart/product.cfm?id=1401
The one you linked is for the "Safety & Health Magazine" which covers "occupational hazards" and such. There is also the "Family Safety & Health" which is what I get at work that's only 21.80 per year. But you only get 4, it's a quartly magazine...
I think some of the topics are good in them. For instance, did you know that in 2005, there were 172,797 injuries associated with yard and garden equipment?
Quote
84,316 - Lawn Mowers
38,133 - Pruning, Trimming and Edging equipment
26,939 - Chain Saws
24,409 - Other nonpowered garden tools, including hoes, pitchforks and spades.
I gave a copy to our squadron safety officer, he likes it and is trying to incorporate many of the topics into his safety briefings - rollovers, sun exposure/heat injury, etc.
It's true. I've seen quite a few roll through the trauma center this summer. I was almost one of them, except that I'm still young enough to bounce. Long story...
^Fortunately I have a lot of time...please elaborate >:D
I can attest to the hazards of the SUV rollover. I was involved in a very serious rollover accident in my truck last November. While this did happen, I still wouldn't give up my SUV for anything.
Quote from: jimmydeanno on August 21, 2007, 12:11:26 PM
^Fortunately I have a lot of time...please elaborate >:D
I started to write about all the fun things I've seen in the trauma center this summer, but then I realized you wanted my story!
My parents put in a pool earlier this summer, and I've been helping doing the landscaping and putting in a paver patio beneath the porch. My dad rented a small front end loader (John Deere) so I could move the gravel and sand easier. Started to go down a hill with the bucket full of small gravel, I guess I had the bucket a bit too high, and I was going down the hill on sort of an angle. Felt the left rear tire start to come up, so I quickly turned the tractor square down the hill. Just as I did that, all hell broke loose and the tractor lifted up the rear end with a lot of force. It ejected me off the seat, over the front of the tractor, downhill from it. I kinda tucked and rolled once, rolled onto my feet and ran like crazy, because I expected the tractor to be tumbling down the hill after me. Luckily, I had squared it up enough on the hill that when it went, the bucket actually caught the tractor, so it was just sitting on the hill with the rear wheels in the air.
It was funny, while I was flying through the air, the only thing I could think of is "Oh crap, I'm going to be a trauma patient, and I'm never gonna hear the end of it from my co-workers"
Luckily, I bounced, didn't hurt anything, and the front end loaded was righted and useable still.
Too bad you didn't get it on video - would've made some good entertainment (only because you didn't get hurt). Glad you made it out ok, and I guess it's a good thing that you aren't a HE operator >:D
I imagine it would have been hilarious. My girlfriend wanted to take a picture of the tractor up, I wasn't too humor filled at the time, but now I wish I coulda gotten a picture of it to share on here.
Quote from: SJFedor on August 23, 2007, 12:19:53 AM
I imagine it would have been hilarious. My girlfriend wanted to take a picture of the tractor up, I wasn't too humor filled at the time, but now I wish I coulda gotten a picture of it to share on here.
always listen to her. otherwise, she will kill you.
Eh, she's killing me slowly anyway ;D ;D
We're all slowly being killed, by each breath, we are closer to that final one. Me, I want it to be as far away as possible.
About 14 years ago- closest call to near death- Dad was brining the combine from being fixed, and my brother and I had to irrigate (Lived in Western NE) We had two 4- wheelers, I took Dad's share of the irrigating, and my brother took ours. The last field was done by whomever finished first, then the other would help finish. I got there first, and as we get ready to go back, my brother suggests a race. I'm not even in 4th grade yet, and not allowed to go past third gear. Well, I agree; I take off and that 3rd gear rule disappears fairly quickly as I blast of into High gear at full throttle. To get to were we parked our equipment, I had to navigate a 135 degree turn to the left. I knew I was supposed to slow down, but I didn't know that going to half throttle in high gear wasn't enough for that tight of a turn. Next thing I know, I'm on the ground, 4 wheeler upside-down. and brother pulling up behind me. All I had was a couple of scrapes and bruises. Boy, I thought dad was going to kill me. . .
That sounds exactly like a few of my experiences on my uncle's farm in upstate NY. Hit a snow covered stump on a logging trail once, threw me about 20 feet. Luckily there was 2 feet of snow to cushion my fall. 4 wheeler did a complete roll, and kept going and rolled over my butt and into a tree. Again, thank god for the 2 feet of snow.
By my calculations, I should have killed myself 5 or 6 times throughout my teenage years.
Yeah, mine was in summer, at least I wasn't thrown. . . . . then there was the electric fence incident- that was a shocker. ;)
Quote from: RogueLeader on August 25, 2007, 08:05:30 AM
Yeah, mine was in summer, at least I wasn't thrown. . . . . then there was the electric fence incident- that was a shocker. ;)
Don't whiz on the electric fence....
I don't know that I have any cool stories like that. I try not to do too many boneheaded things, and when I do something like that, I just try to look cool and tell people that I meant to do that...
*struts*
Quote from: sargrunt on August 25, 2007, 08:14:42 PM
Quote from: RogueLeader on August 25, 2007, 08:05:30 AM
Yeah, mine was in summer, at least I wasn't thrown. . . . . then there was the electric fence incident- that was a shocker. ;)
Don't whiz on the electric fence....
How many of us are still alive, I have no clue. I don't know that I have any cool stories like that. I try not to do too many boneheaded things, and when I do something like that, I just try to look cool and tell people that I meant to do that...
*struts*
Didn't; I was trying to take a bike through. Top wire went up, bottom wire went down. Half way through fence, top wire came down, bottom wire went up.