Raymond High School students compete in Seat Belt Safety Challenge

RAYMOND — Enthusiastic Raymond High School students gathered outside the school cafeteria last week to participate in the 16th annual Seat Belt Safety Challenge sponsored by the N.H. Highway Safety Agency.

Sixteen teams of four students each took the opportunity to engage in a fun way to promote safety and the importance of seat-belt use in vehicles.

Peter Thomson, who coordinates the event for the highway safety division, said the purpose of the contest is to "instill in young people that seat belts are a useful tool to save lives and hopefully encourage them to use a seat belt every time they get in a vehicle."

Jack Wedermeyer, from Jack's Driving School in Deerfield, lent his time and one of his cars for the event. An orange safety cone was placed at each corner of the car that participants had to be careful to avoid while changing place. With doors wide open, each team began the timed contest buckled in, with hands up. When the whistle blew each contestant had to unbuckle, move clockwise around the car to the next seat and buckle in, finishing with hands up. This process was repeated until each person was back in the seat where he started. Each team was allowed two runs, and there were penalties for things like touching a door or not going around the cones.

One spectator commented that it looked just like a "Chinese Fire Drill," but Wedermeyer said "the way I explain it to them is that if four people can get in and buckle up in less than 30 seconds, then how long does it take for you, your mom and dad, your sibling or friends to do it every time they get into a vehicle? It's a small amount of time to spend doing something that most definitely can save your life."

This year's event at RHS was sponsored by the Raymond Coalition For Youth, Jack's Driving School, the Raymond Police Department and the JAG program from RHS. Teams represented RHS, JAG and RCFY, this year's defending champions. The RCFY team took first place again, with a time of 38.76 seconds. The team "Frolic," composed of Matthew Lundergan, Jesse Cordaro, Marco Prince and Tim O'Neill also captured the fastest time for the whole school and will go on to the state finals on Tuesday, May 6, to compete against 38 other schools.

"I'm so proud of them," said Celeste Clark, RCFY coordinator. "And what makes it even more exciting is that they won last year, too, but missed the finals because of the flooding we had here in town. I'm so happy they'll finally be able to go."

The finals will be held in the auditorium of the Police Standards and Training Center in Concord. Youths will be required to correctly answer a series of questions as well, and the teams' total times are affected by their answers.

The finals begin at 9 a.m., and continue until early afternoon. Winning teams from all over the state are treated to a continental breakfast and pizza for lunch as well the chance to win prizes. Aside from trophies and recognition, free food and some time away from everyday routine, the winning team will win concert tickets, which they can choose from a variety options. Wedermeyer said "it's great to be able to teach kids something in a way that's fun and exciting for them, that makes a difference in the end."