Zero fatalities, personal mishaps over the summer

  • Published
  • By Mary Lou Gorny
  • Hilltop Times editor
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  "It can quickly sum up our 101 Critical Days of Summer safety campaign with two facts: zero fatalities and zero mishaps," said Lt. Col. Jeff Zemke, 75th Air Base Wing chief of safety.

"That was definitely not the case around the entire Air Force or in Air Force Materiel Command," he said.

The campaign which runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day, encompasses both holiday weekends, with the focus on everything from boating, to barbecue, to rock climbing safety.

"We covered every possible summer topic ... and those were given out to emphasize the Wingman concept and look out for each other," Zemke said.

"Our campaign really kicked off on the Air Force Chief of Staff-mandated Wingman Day. We scheduled Wingman Day to include our 101 Critical Days of Summer, the See-Me-Save-Me Motorcycle Day, Sports Day and our annual picnic. Unfortunately, we got rained out," he said of a combined day planned just before the Memorial Day weekend.

The See-Me-Save-Me Motorcycle Ride was successfully rescheduled and had more than 600 riders, 30 police escorts from local counties and included Layton Mayor Steve Curtis who participated.

"We went through Ogden (and several other communities) with all 600 motorcycles to show automobile drivers how hard it is to see our two-wheeled friends," Zemke said. The ride was featured on two local TV broadcasts and in a few newspapers.

The object of getting such a mass of motorcycles together is as a visual reminder to motorists that they share the road with other less visible two-wheeled vehicles.

As the base safety chief, Zemke made all safety materials available to commanders and unit safety representatives and put special emphasis on all weekend holidays. "This is where statistics show us we are most vulnerable," he said.

Zemke gave a safety briefing at the 75th Air Base Wing Sports Day reminding all those invited from around the base, "This is the critical safety weekend ... the weekend we are at most risk, and I want you to look out for each other."

In general, he does find sports and preconditioning activities the highest cause of minor injury mishaps. The riskiest of those activities: softball and basketball.

The 101 Critical Days of Summer and the See-Me-Save-Me campaigns are two of the three campaigns he conducts throughout the year. Get ready to hear from Zemke again, as he will speak out again soon as he energizes his Slips-and-Falls campaign -- Utah snow is right around the corner.