Air Force, Army presents 'Fight the Risk' to German government

Published Oct. 14, 2011
By Senior Airman Natasha Stannard
52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs

BERLIN -- More than a dozen traffic accidents occurred here Oct. 11.

Luckily, the accidents happened on a driving simulator provided by the 52nd Fighter Wing Safety office from Spangdahlem Air Base.

The U.S. Air Forces in Europe, along with the U.S. Army in Europe, brought displays like this to the Bundesrat, the legislative body that represents the 16 federal states of Germany, in Berlin as part of Gesundheitstage. Gesundheitstage is a health and wellness seminar, for employees and family members of the Bundesrat.

The Air Force and Army were invited to this event to present the host nation and USAREUR joint traffic safety campaign, "Fight the Risk."

"I saw the campaign last year at a seminar and thought 'this is exactly what I need to raise awareness at the Bundesrat," said Helmut Fellner, Bundesrat chief of health and occupational safety.

Like any organization, the Bundesrat has had its share of accidents, and like most accidents, they could have been prevented.

The Bundesrat chief of safety said he sees "Fight the Risk" as a step in the right direction of prevention.

"This campaign is an eye opener to make people start thinking of what they're doing while driving," Fellner said.

The Air Force's driving simulator proved. Employees of the Bundesrat drove it through various driving conditions to include: the city, suburbs, back roads, autobahn and mountains in day, night, rain, snow or fog. While driving in these conditions, they also went through simulations to show how driving intoxicated can affect reaction time and sight.

"I haven't driven in about 10 years," said Sandra Michel, event attendee. "I know now that before I sit in a real car, I should take some driving lessons. Driving this however, was a great opportunity to practice. It shows that while driving you have to pay attention to so many things and take into account what other drivers may do and any other unexpected things that may occur."

After taking the simulator for a spin, drivers like Michel were given a report of the mistakes they made.

"If drivers miss a blinker or run off the road the program records it," said Master Sgt. Victoriano Rodriguez, 52nd FW traffic safety manager. "It puts you into situations that help you realize that making mistakes like answering the phone while driving can cause you to drive off the road or into oncoming traffic."

For Karll Martin, Bundesrat employee, seeing the difference between driving with and without distractions made it clear that being distracted is dangerous.

"I got the message," he said. "Driving distracted doesn't work. The next time I get a phone call while driving, I'll call them back later or have my passenger answer."

Along with driving the simulator, members of the Bundesrat were also shown presentations of various consequences distractions can cause and the importance of defensive driving.
These displays showed that the smallest distraction, such as thinking about something else, can cause big accidents.

"With this campaign, we're rebalancing risk acceptance," said Wolfgang Rieth, USAEUR senior host nation safety and occupational health manager. "When you're doing something you feel too comfortable with, like driving, you're more likely to accept higher risks. That is something we need to be more aware of."

Accepting risks while driving, makes it more likely for people to cause accident, he said. For example, when people are too comfortable driving the same roads, they assume they know exactly what to do because they do the same action every day. This is dangerous because they are more likely to feel comfortable with turning away to mess with their phone. This action is an example of accepting the risk that something unexpected may happen and cause them to crash. The purpose of "Fight the Risk" is to not accept risks like this, but understand that they can happen.

"I hope people become more aware that commuting needs attention," Fellner said. "I want people to have the right mindset while driving, and having the U.S. military here teaching our people to fight the risk is a way to mitigate that. It's beneficial for us to work with the U.S. military because people are excited and willing to learn from them."

While this is the first time the Bundesrat has partnered with the U.S. military, it won't be the last.

"Networking like this is important," Fellner said. "I hope our relationship with the U.S. Forces continues to multiply."

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