While it wasn't the first CarFit event to be held in Hall County, it was the first since last year's deadly tally on county roadways. Law enforcement with both Hall County and the city of Gainesville saw the Thursday effort at Blackshear Place Baptist Church as another way to put a dent in those numbers in 2016.
CarFit, as outlined on the program website, is an effort to offer older drivers the chance to see how well their personal vehicles "fit" them. Officers who have been trained by CarFit officials spend about 20 minutes with each driver, going over safety and comfort basics.
Sgt. Dean Staples with the Gainesville Police Department's Specialized Services Division coordinated the event along with Lt. Bonner Burton of the Hall County Sheriff's Office.
Staples said the drivers who participate in a CarFit review typically are not in the age range where texting and driving or eating behind the wheel are prevalent habits, but they have other issues that might hamper their safety.
"A lot of them will have the seat laid back too far or either they'll be too close to the air bag itself, so you don't get full deployment," Staples said. "A lot of people in this age range like to wear their seat belt under their arms because it might come too high on their neck. So, we're trying to get them set in the seat exactly where they should be."
Burton noted that a driver who is uncomfortable in a vehicle is a distracted driver.
"You can be distracted because you're not fitting in the car properly or understanding how to use it best, and we believe that those are some of the contributing factors that we're seeing as related to our high fatality rates right now," Burton said.
Burton said in 2015, 32 people were killed on Hall County's roads; the average age of the victims was 54. He said so far this year, the fatality rate has not improved.
"Right now, we have nine fatalities in the county and that's about on par with where we were last year," said Burton.
Fred Dunlap of Jackson County, who will turn 80 later this year, was one of about two dozen older drivers who had a vehicle check Thursday morning at the church in South Hall County. He said going over the checklist with an officer reinforced a number of safety factors he already understood.
"When I first started in my work life...I would travel and and [the company] sent us to all kinds of safety seminars. One thing I learned that always stuck with me was to always expect the driver to do the wrong thing," Dunlap said. "[Today] I was at a Bible study and I thought why not take advantage of the opportunity to make sure I'm sitting in the right place and so forth."
Betty Rhodes of Oakwood said she, too, was in the same class and took a few minutes to make sure she was properly fitted to her vehicle.
"[The officer] checked the mirrors so that I could see in the back and my lights and all of the working things inside - just made sure I knew how to drive my car safely," said Rhodes.
Both Staples and Burton said other safety events with their agencies, and others, would be scheduled in the coming months.
