On April 30, Corporal Jeff Wilson from the Missouri Highway Patrol brought the Seatbelt Convincer to Lafayette students.

This machine reenacts a five mile-per-hour crash by having a single passenger seat on a small ramp. The students were strapped in with a seatbelt and came to an abrupt stop at the end of the ramp to show how efficient seatbelts are. 

Wilson said, “[Seatbelts] will help save your life and keep you from being injured.”

Wilson’s motivation for bringing in the machine is straightforward.

“It’s there for one simple reason,” he said. “To get people to wear their seatbelts.”

Driver Education teacher Allyn Workman said, “There were really two objectives for bringing in the Seatbelt Convincer. One reason was to have our students experience what the seatbelt can and does do. The second reason was for the Reaching Adolescent Driver (RAD) student group to have the opportunity to have other students at Lafayette, besides those in the Drivers Ed program, experience the Seatbelt Convincer as well,”

Although the machine moved at a low-impact speed, the results were still convincing for sophomore Anne Perry.

“It was brought in to show everyone what can happen if you get into a crash. It’s only going five miles-per-hour and I can just imagine how hard a crash would be if you were going 60,” she said. 

The Seatbelt Convincer wasn’t brought in on any random Friday either.

 “This was timed to coincide with Prom to help reinforce with students the concept of wearing their seatbelt,” Workman said.

Driver Ed teacher and RAD sponsor Justin Bottorff said, “We’re hoping this will help encourage use among students. It’s not as high as other schools in the area. We did a survey in October and 75 percent of the school’s population was wearing a seat belt. This is our first step towards a bigger program to really try to increase seat belt usage.”

This was the first time that students outside of Driver Ed classes could experience The Convincer.

“Previously it was only offered to Driver Ed students, but tomorrow it will be set up in the Commons during lunch and any student that wants to participate will be given the opportunity,” Bottorff said.

He continued, “I think the results we’ve seen in class show, it does make you think about what it feels like and how important that seat belt is, and for it to be worn when you’re in the car. This shows that you have a better chance of survival if you are wearing your seat belt.” 

Bottorff said when other high schools in the surrounding area surveyed their students’ seatbelt usage their results showed students were wearing their seatbelts around 90 percent of the time in a vehicle.

The Driver Ed program uses other forms of persuasion to get students to wear their seatbelts as well.

“Guest speakers from Children’s Hospital and St. Louis County Police also talk to demonstrate to our students the importance of wearing their seatbelt. We use video clips and current news stories to show the effectiveness of wearing a seatbelt and what the results might be if people choose not to wear it,” Workman said.

And, Driver Ed students aren’t the only ones who receive reminders about buckling up.

“[RAD] has spray painted on all of the exit lanes at Lafayette the signs for ‘Buckle Up’ and ‘Arrive Alive’ as a reminder for people leaving campus to use their seatbelts. The RAD group has had several signs on display throughout the building encouraging and reminding students and staff members to use their seatbelt,” Workman said.

RAD was created as in response to Lafayette’s below average seatbelt use, Bottorff said.

“The club meets usually on Monday morning in my room, B1,” he said.

He has hopes for the RAD’s growth and expansion next school year. Bottorff said, “We hope reach out more with anonymous seatbelt check for prizes like coupons and T-shirts.”