Como-Pickton FFA Students, left to right, Gayle Spearman, Jensen Mabe, and Alex Mowat, stand beside
the driving simulator that demonstrated to students the effects of not wearing a seat belt, should they be
involved in a roll-over accident.


"Safety First" Message At
Como-Pickton FFA Farm Week
Presentation

by: Bobby McDonald

 

Targeted at the middle-school aged children at Como-Pickton ISD, the Como-Pickton FFA Chapter presented their Farm and Household Safety Tips to a group of eager children, with hopes of preventing accidents in their community. "Safety First" was the message presented throughout a variety of situations that most anyone living in Hopkins County could take note.

One of the favorite stops of the day was the driving simulator that actually demonstrated to students the action that would take place in the cab of a truck, should it roll going 65mph. Three "dummies" were in the cab of the truck and a roll-over accident was simulated, allowing students to watch the three occupants thrown about the cab, with and without seat belts. "It was quite impressive to watch what happens inside a truck, in such an accident," expressed Alex Mowat, one of the presenters of the demonstration. "One has to stop and think about making certain that they buckle-up when the get in an automobile!"

"It made a believer out of me!" expressed Jensen Mabe, another one of the demonstrators. "And, it was really impressive to the students when they are sitting there and watch one of the 'dummies' come flying through the windshield into the audience. It makes you realize that in the blink of an eye, that could be you!"

Como-Pickton Middle School students watch a safety demonstration on operating both motorcycles
and 4-wheelers at this stop on the Farm Safety Tour at Como-Pickton School.

Other stops on the safety tour included a demonstration of safety tips when operating both a motorcycle and a 4-wheeler. "Many, many of the students in the audience operated either a 4-wheeler or a motorcycle, and we tried to show them just how easy it is to have an accident, with our demonstration," expressed Michael Bowen, Vocational Agriculture Teacher at Como-Pickton. "Hopefully, we prevented some major accidents today, by telling them just what can happen, when one doesn't use caution."

Another stop on the tour that "hit home" with many of the students living in the rural areas of Como and Pickton was the Equine Safety Demonstration. Vocational Agriculture students demonstrated the proper way to saddle a horse and expressed that not using the proper techniques could result in a serious accident, or even death. "Horses are great fun, but many people by not saddling their animal properly stand the risk of being hung to the saddle or possibly dragged should something happen suddenly," stated the presenter. "Horses are to be respected and caution must be used when dealing with any species of livestock!"

"Equine Safety" was the topic at this stop of the Farm Safety demonstrations,
as students learned the proper way to saddle a horse.

The demonstrations wouldn't have been complete without a demonstration of the safe use of tractors and lawnmowers. Vocational Agriculture students gave demonstrations of how to properly operate these common machines on the farm or in the home lawn. "Lawn mower accidents are prevalent among students in the middle-school age bracket," warned the demonstrator. "Simply, because most middle-school aged students are the ones that are out mowing the home lawn!"

The safe operation of farm tractors was another popular station for students to learn about the safe way to drive and operate a tractor and the farm machinery that might be attached to it. Special emphasis was given to the PTO shaft and the many dangers of getting loose clothing caught in this portion of the tractor. Other topics discussed were preventing roll-overs and to always use safe speeds when operating a tractor and machinery.

At this station, students learned the many dangers of operating a lawnmower and a tractor. Middle
school aged students are the age bracket that most often are injured while operating a lawnmower.

The Safety Demonstrations on Thursday were part of the Annual Farm Week observance at Como-Pickton School and allowed students to gain knowledge about the safe operation of a farm. Farm Week activities at the school concludes on Friday, with a Tractorcade that will feature students driving tractors to school and entering them in a parade around the school. "This annual salute to agriculture is a very worthwhile learning experience for both my students in Vocational Agriculture and the many students that get to learn more about the many aspects of producing their food," explained Bowen.

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