A gasp rushed over the crowd, as they stood frozen and wide-eyed. The winner of the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center’s (ATC) 5th annual Safety Roadeo was not the reigning champion of the past 2 years.
Colonel Timothy E. Matthews, ATC’s commander, presented the coveted golden steering wheel to the new champions - the team of Kevin Pelletier and Neal Anastasio.
“Amazing” said Pelletier. “It makes me feel great”, said Anastasio, when asked how they felt to be the new champions of ATC’s Roadeo.
Pelletier and Anastasio, along with 17 other teams of two, participated in ATC’s annual Safety Roadeo. Each team visited nine safety stations to earn points by correctly answering questions related to accident reporting, forklift safety, vehicle preventative maintenance checks and services (PMCS), as well as hearing protection, impaired driving awareness, and proper installation of child car seats.
The last station was a driving challenge course. Each team designated a driver and ground guide who worked together to drive a large pickup truck through tight corners and reverse into parking spaces without disturbing or squishing course cones.
“The driving portion was challenging”, said Anastasio, to which Pelletier agreed. Anastasio’s main takeaway was that “ground guides are key” for safe vehicle navigation and accident avoidance in government vehicles.
“This event is great to get people out, to raise awareness about safety, take away a few bits of info about ground guiding or situational awareness, and interact with the safety office in a light and fun way”, said Travis Tracey, a member of ATC’s Safety Office.
Safety at work is essential to successful completion of ATC’s mission of supporting our U.S. warfighter. “This Roadeo is all about safety, having awareness and having fun”, said Matthews.
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The U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC) is a subordinate test site of the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC). We are committed to supporting our U.S. warfighters through leading-edge testing and training to give our U.S. warfighters a decisive advantage, when it counts.
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