STAFFORD, Va. 鈥� They are still several years away from getting behind the wheel of a car, but officials from the Stafford County Sheriff鈥檚 Office and the Stafford County Fire Department gave local middle school students a lesson in driving safety.
鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about everything we can traffic safety related,鈥� Stafford County Sheriff鈥檚 Deputy 1st Class Walter O鈥橬eal II told 草莓传媒.
It was all part of the Youth of Virginia Speak Out About Traffic Safety鈥檚 (YOVASO) fourth annual Middle School Leadership Retreat at Brooke Point High School in Stafford County. All of students are from the county鈥檚 schools.
As part of the retreat, they learned about biking and pedestrian safety inside, but then got live demonstrations outside in the school parking lot.
Among the demonstrations were firefighters cutting off the roof of a wrecked car to show students how they extract victims from an accident, a rollover simulator to show the damage of not wearing your seatbelt and having loose items in your car while driving, a chance to sit in the back of a patrol car and a meet-and-greet with a police K9.
鈥淭here are a lot of misconceptions about police dogs being vicious,鈥� Master Deputy Alex Smith said.
But he said that鈥檚 not true and used his demonstration to prove it.
Another deputy stood out in the field and K9 Vader went out to apprehend him. Right after he caught the deputy, Vader returned to Smith and was then calmly petted by the middle schoolers.
For him, it was a great opportunity to be able to reach back out to the community.
鈥淲ith everything going on these days as far as law enforcement in general, it鈥檚 really good that we connect better to the community,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淚n all reality, we can鈥檛 do our job without the community.鈥�
Public safety officials are tasked with promoting driving safety. But why reach out to teens who aren鈥檛 even driving yet?
鈥淲e are big on traffic safety,鈥� said O鈥橬eal. The goal is 鈥渢o start giving that to the middle schoolers as soon as we can so that way they are a lot safer when it鈥檚 their turn to be on the road with you and me.鈥�
