WSU Community Safety Fair a Success!

(and that includes driver safety awareness)

This past weekend Pullmanites enjoyed for the fourth year in a row, the WSU Community Safety Fair, held at the Breslford Visitor Center in beautiful downtown Pullman. The usual suspects were there, but the fair was anything but usual. From the fire extinguisher event, to the bike rodeo to our very own driver simulator, families were "schooled," top to bottom, on the importance of safety in our everyday lives. The WSU/Fair facilitators made sure everyone attended each booth by utilizing a stamp card system allowing direct interaction between the presenters and the community, so that everyone was sure to have a full experience.

At our booth, we were both grateful and amazed at the number of drivers who signed our pledge for our campaign to drive aware and non-distracted while driving in our community. Several passengers and pedestrians also made the oath to be mindful of the driver in their own car and drivers in general. Our driver simulator got some use as people lined up to take a test drive and discovered it wasn't as easy as it looked! In addition, we supplied information on summer safety tips--do not leave children and/or pets in hot vehicles--went LIVE! on Instagram and Facebook, and ran a small distracted driving contest with candy prizes for the winners. The contest proved what astute drivers we have here on the Palouse, however, the main focus of our campaign is making sure everyone gets to their destination safely and the group that showed up was dedicated and committed to making a difference for themselves and their families. We applaud those drivers, new and old, and appreciate their support for our campaign. It is you, one by one, who make the difference! Which brings us to the next event...

 

WSU ALIVE Resource Fair

The next day we visited the Alive Resource Fair at the CUB on the WSU campus. This was our 4th out of the 11 sessions we will be present for at this year's ALIVE event. Each time is a new experience as each time a new group of freshman or returning students and parents are in attendance. Although we've been to several events, it never ceases to amaze us the number of people who are concerned about driver safety awareness and who want to take active participation in our campaign. Particularly, the college students themselves, are apprehensive about driving in a new area, driving distracted or driving in the winter. It seems, most are choosing other alternatives, like walking. Whether walking or driving, awareness is the key and these drivers have it and are appreciative of our program. From this feedback, we feel our campaign is impacting the youth in our community and we will continue to attend the ALIVE Resource Fair along with other safety events in order to keep our message of ending distracted driving moving throughout the Palouse and Washington state. Again, thank you to the all wonderful participants and, especially, the support staff at WSU who make this event so successful!