Inwood, Iowa — As part of a Family, Career and Community Leaders of America — or FCCLA — unit at West Lyon School near Inwood, Iowa State Patrol Trooper Kevin Krull made an appearance, with a special piece of hardware on Monday.
The “seatbelt convincer” is a car seat mounted on a plate that is released in a controlled descent, similar to rolling down a hill, with a hard stop at the bottom to simulate impact. He tells us how the students reacted to the force of impact while being held in by a seatbelt.
Krull also had some classroom time with groups of students. He tells us about it.
Krull says other groups and organizations can ask for a demonstration with the seatbelt convincer. He says it’s been to the Iowa State Fair and the Clay County Fair. He says it would be great for a pre-prom or pre-graduation safety reminder, or an object lesson for a driver’s ed class.
West Lyon FCCLA was recently notified that they were selected to receive the National 1st Place High School “Families Acting for Community Traffic Safety” – or “FACTS” Award from the national FCCLA organization. They tell us the FACTS program is a national peer-to-peer education program through which students strive to save lives through personal, vehicle, and road safety. The West Lyon Chapter gets $1000 and will be recognized at the national conference in Seattle at the end of June and beginning of July, where they will showcase their winning project.
See the “seatbelt convincer” in action:
