Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 11, 1994                   TAG: 9405110085
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Sandra Brown Kelly
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TECH'S TUTORIALS ON TRACTOR SAFETY ARE LONG OVERDUE

In June 1993, a 12-year-old Wytheville youth died when his tractor hit a stump and overturned.

In July 1992, a 14-year-old Franklin County boy died when his tractor overturned.

In November 1991, a Dublin man and another in Franklin County died in similar tractor accidents.

Tractors turn over more easily than do cars. More than half of the fatalities from tractor accidents involve the equipment turning over, says the introduction to the Safe Tractor Operation, a computer tutorial developed by Virginia Tech and the Virginia Cooperative Extension.

The tutorial is one of three computer programs - tractor, all-terrain vehicle and respiratory safety - that are available for use by schools, 4-H groups and any other public organizations.

Glen Hetzel and Steve Thomson, agricultural engineers, said programs were sent to about 20 schools around the state this past school year. The goal is to get them in the hands of all vocational agriculture teachers in Virginia.

The Tech experts have a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to use in producing the safety materials.

The tractor safety tutorial has been developed in Apple and IBM formats; the others are IBM-compatible. They are structured with text and graphics for a middle-school or high-school age group, but the information is entertaining and valuable to all ages.

For example, how many nonengineers know enough about the principle of the "shear line"? The guideline is to stay as far away from a ditch as the ditch is deep. That's not bad advance for people just walking.

Also, some of the same safety factors that apply to tractors apply to operation of similar vehicles, such as riding lawn mowers. Going up and down a slope rather than around is safer, for instance.

The point is to keep your center of gravity, said Pat Neil, who works with Dixie Farm Equipment Co. Inc., which has been in business since the early 1970s.

Neil said all tractors have been equipped with roll bars and seat belts for years. She said instructions generally include safety information, too, such as to keep your feet clear of a brush hog. The problem is that people are only human and the more familiar they become with a vehicle or a task, the less alert they are, Neil said.

A run-through tutorial like Tech's is a good refresher. The programs would be an ideal addition to public libraries, too, especially the respiratory safety tutorial, which might have the broadest audience. It also uses some clever tactics to get users' attention. It asks users questions about their habits and scores the answers with the graphic of a lung, said Thomson.

"If habits are bad, the lung gets progressively blacker," he said.

Further information on the programs can be obtained from Hetzel at 231-5705, or Thomson at 231-6089, or by writing them at Tech, Seitz Hall, Blacksburg 24061-0303.

Charity Alert: Patrick Henry Boys and Girls Plantation has sent out an alert that it has not authorized All American Events Inc. of Sarasota, Fla., Fraternal Order of Police or any other organization to make telephone solicitations or receive contributions for the home. Persons who have been contacted by these groups should call the facility at (804) 376-2006.

Commercials Zapper: By July, Arista Technologies Inc. of Hauppauge, N.Y., hopes to introduce Commercial Brake, a contraption that will automatically eliminate commercial interruptions from videotaped television programs. It is expected to retail for around $199.