'SAFETY BRIGADE' RIDES THROUGH CAPE

Fairgoers tried to walk a straight line at Arena Park Tuesday afternoon, but Kevin Klipe and his "fatal vision" goggles were making it impossible.

"I think you had better stop there," Klipe told a man before he walked into a tent's rope.

Klipe of the state Department of Liquor Control was one of 15 riding with the Missouri Highway Safety Brigade, which stopped at the SEMO Fair to encourage traffic safety.

The brigade is a program of the state Division of Highway Safety, said Vicky Williams. The brigade, made up of various safety advocates, traffic crash victims and others, is making bus stops in 90 Missouri communities this fall.

The brigade is using a variety of means to make its message have a local impact, Williams said.

The "fatal vision" goggles, developed by an opthamologist whose son was killed by a drunk driver, simulate vision of a person at different levels of intoxication, Klipe said.

The cab of a white pickup truck was reconstructed at a cost of $6,000 to simulate what happens when a car rolls traveling 35 mph, said Sgt. Brent Davis of the state Highway Patrol. The simulator was part of Tuesday's demonstrations, which is making 16 stops in Southeast Missouri Tuesday through Thursday.

"The reason I spend so much time and effort with this is because being thrown from a vehicle is the number one cause of traffic deaths," Davis said. "The worst kinds are when someone is partially thrown out. The vehicle turns over and over on them several times."

Traffic crashes are the biggest killer of people in Missouri between 5 and 34 years old, Williams said.

Members of the brigade also passed out safety trivia cards and gathered signatures for the Missouri Millennium 2,000 Promise.

The goal of the millennium project is to get 2 million Missouri drivers to sign a promise to be a safe, sober driver who utilizes child seats correctly and avoids aggressive driving.

During the bus stops at schools, stores and other locations, Williams invites community leaders into the bus to talk about safety issues.

"Local people are the ones who solve local problems," she said.

During her stop at the fair, members of Cape Girardeau's police and fire departments made up most of those boarding the bus to listen.

She encouraged them to take the pop-up stands promoting the Millennium 2,000 Promise with them.

Although police and firefighters handle safety issues every day, Cape Girardeau Police Chief Rick Hetzel didn't see Williams' pep talk as a waste.

"The Division of Highway Safety is responsible for a lot of the things we do," Hetzel said. "From the 'fatal vision' goggles that our DARE officers use in schools to the Safe Communities programs, they help us make a difference."

Sharee Galnore has directed Cape Girardeau's Safe Communities activities through the police department since 1984. Because of additional support from the Highway Safety Division, they have been able to expand from a one-message program about seat belts into many other areas, she said.

"The key is for them to be able to talk to the people who can do the programing," Galnore said.

Rob Graycheck, an emergency room nurse at St. Francis Medical Center, volunteered to continue promoting the Millennium 2,000 Promise after the brigade drove off. He put up their cardboard placard with sign-up cards at the fair's first-aid trailer.

Graycheck decided to join the Safe Communities program a month ago.

"The reason I do this is that I think I can make a difference," said Graycheck, who assists accident victims every week. "What I'm most encouraged by is the response I've gotten from younger kids. When I ask them if they'll promise to wear their safety belts, most say 'doesn't everyone?'"