Climbing experience allows students to face personal challenges
OLYMPIC HIGH SCHOOL Natalie La Barbera sat hanging 30 feet in the air, a thin cord and harness serving as the only protection preventing a harsh fall to the ground, a mixture of fear and excitement rushing to the brain of the acrophobe.
What she got out of the adrenaline-packed, rock-climbing experience during a break from summer school on Friday was an important lesson in car safety.
A long white banner adorned the side of a temporarily erected, three-stories high recreational wall at Olympic High School, emblazoned on it a fact that gives students a new perspective on the importance of buckling up — a drop from the top would equal the force on a body that isn’t wearing a seat belt in a vehicle that crashes at 30 miles per hour.
“That’s pretty scary,” La Barbera, a junior at Olympic, said, imaging such an impact.
It’s an interesting approach to teaching children and young adults about traffic safety, a lesson offered by non-profit organization Safe Moves, which has been making repeated visits to the continuation high school.
Funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), which facilitates the state’s “Click it or Ticket”campaign, the Safe Moves program reinforces one of the first lessons taught to children — along with looking both ways before crossing the street — but is still all too often ignored, that wearing a seat belt can mean the difference between life and death.
Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers and approximately two-thirds killed in such accidents were not properly secured, according to Safe Moves.
Drivers in California do a better job fastening up compared to the rest of the country where the average seat belt usage rate is only 82 percent, far lower than the 92.5 percent here, according to 2005 data provided by OTS.
The teenage seat belt use rate in California is lower than the overall state average, sitting at about 88 percent.
The goal of the organization is to bring that number to 100 percent.
The rock-climbing wall, as well as a handful of other prevention programs, were developed by organization leader Pat Hines, who founded Safe Moves after her friend was hit and killed by a car while she trained for the 1984 Olympics in bicycling along Pacific Coast Highway.
“If I don’t, I get paranoid.” — Ramirez said
“Every time I get in the car I have to buckle my seat belt,”
The program has been brought to Olympic High School a handful of times this year, a way to engage students on a campus that lacks the traditional team sports and activities found at places like Santa Monica High School.
Aside from teaching seat belt safety, the rock-climbing wall also provides teens with the opportunity for self-growth.
“It’s good for them to challenge themselves on something, because these kids are not used to overcoming challenges,” Olympic Principal Janie Gates said. “Hopefully this makes them realize they are more capable and resilient than they think.”
The majority of students are apprehensive about their first ascent, a queasy feeling that the program’s organizers welcome.
“We want that same feeling to carryover when they get into a car without a seat belt,” Jimmy Banuelos, a traffic safety instructor with Safe Moves, said.
The lesson is often accompanied with a viewing of a car smashed at 30 miles per hour. The vehicle, post-accident, was left out this time.
Some students seemed to walk away from the experience with seat belt awareness ingrained in their brains.
Alex Ramirez, a senior at Olympic, has climbed the wall several times. Since his first experience a few years ago, he has made a mental note of fastening up every time, including reminding all occupants in his car.
For many students, the experience allowed them to overcome their fear of heights.
La Barbera, who noted that a seat belt saved her dad’s life, was nervous about the climb, especially after glancing at the cord, which she called “small and scary.”
It took two tries for La Barbera to make it to the top.
“It’s an accomplishment,” she said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 19, 2008. Read the original PDF.