Greetings!
There's an intersection by Elkhorn that has claimed lives in various crashes. While different things have been tried to eliminate the crashes, the loss of life usually stems from the lack of a safety belt.
Keep up your good efforts to keep Nebraskans safe by encouraging everyone to buckle up, every trip, every time.
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Click It Breaks some eggs in Norfolk! |
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Click It borrowed an idea from Shana Carter in Hastings, NE, and made an Egg Crash Display that we tried at the Norfolk Children's Day Festival in the Norfolk mall. Shana is right when she says that when the kids see it in action, "they totally get it".
Basically, the idea is to load an unbelted egg into one car, and load another egg into a different car with a safety belt. In our case, we made the safety belts from rubber bands, which worked well to keep the eggs seated in the plastic lids we installed in the cars for seats. Then we rolled the cars down the road, and let them crash into the barrier at the end of the slope.
We had some spectactular crashes, but amazingly, rubber band safety belts worked well to keep the egg in the car. But if the egg was not belted, it tended to fly out of the vehicle. We explained to the kids that people can't just use rubber bands, and that we have to pay attention to how our bodies are built as opposed to eggs, since they have no laps. People's safety belts spread the force of a sudden stop over the stronger parts of their bodies--across their pelvis and shoulder.
We found that if an egg stays in the car, it usually "lives" through the crash. Even if the car leaves the roadway, a belted egg tends to remain whole throughout the experience. Even if a belted egg experiences a crack or ding, it fares much better than its unbelted counterparts.
If you are hosting a children's event and would like to teach kids about safety belts, invite Click it to attend and bring the egg crash display. It's a great way to demonstrate Newton's laws and the difference a safety belt can make! |
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JOOI is a Point of Light! |
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Mark Claussen and Norfolk's Junior Optimist Group received a Point of Light award at the Governor's Proclamation. This group has done much work with ensuring that the citizens of Norfolk, and especially junior and senior high school students use their safety belts!
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