EMU Police Officer Candace Dorsey joined with Budget Towing owner Billy Salamay to provide a presentation and hands-on experience about car safety Wednesday afternoon at the McKenny Hall training suite.
Dorsey said her job as the crime prevention coordinator for the police department involves going into the community and talking about safety. She helped come up with the idea to create a car safety event to help share basic car maintenance information that all drivers should know.
“We have a lot of commuters on campus, so I thought it was a relevant topic,” said Dorsey
Dorsey said there are three main types of distractions while driving: visual distraction, manual distraction and cognitive distraction. She said drowsiness, using a cell phone, texting, eating, putting on makeup, changing a radio station, looking for CDs and checking e-mail are all distractions that fit in these categories.
“Texting while driving is especially dangerous because it combines all three types of distractions,” said Dorsey
Salamay said he was informed by the director of AAA to strongly suggest not to change tires on the side of the highway. Salamay said drivers are safer driving to the closest exit or ramp even if it ends up damaging your tire.
“Every six days, a tow truck driver is killed across the country,” said Salamay. “Most of the time, it’s because of distracted drivers.”
Salamay demonstrated with his black Scion how to check oil, how to jump start the car, how to change tires, how to check air pressure in the tires, and gave insight on what to expect in case the driver runs into a problem.
“We try to educate the students so where they can be somewhat self-sufficient and try to do things on their own if they can,” said Salamay. “If they can’t, then obviously they can call us.”
Salamay said sometimes people have hardships and can’t afford to pay for a service or don’t have insurance which is one reason they like to give back to the community and provide services like this event.
EMU I.T. staff member Cynthia Palombit said this event appealed to her because she’s had car troubles in the past and by coming she was informed a lot of tips that she was unaware of.
“I learned not to leave my registration in the car,” said Palombit.
Palombit said she never learned in her entire life how to change a tire. She said she’s had two flat tires in the past and had to rely on somebody else to change them for her.
“It’s something you should be able to do by yourself,” said Palombit
Palombit said the event was very helpful and she’s glad she came.
