Stay safe through hectic holidays Published Dec. 2, 2008 By Lt. Col. Craig Bomberg 30th Space Wing Safety commander VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Happy holidays! We are now in the middle of the holiday season, a time when all of the pressures of our busy schedules come together. The pressures of the office, the family, and social events with friends all demand more time than we have available. While this is my favorite time of the year, it is also one of the most hectic. Good planning is one of the best ways to avoid hazards. Taking your time and accepting responsibility will solve many minor problems before they become dangerous. Additionally, helping your Wingman can distribute the workload and correct mistakes missed by one. The most effective way to stay safe this holiday season is by taking the time to do the things that work the rest of the year. There is no magic recipe, but like all recipes the first step is planning. I recently spent some time scanning the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Web site; it is packed full of helpful tips. Amongst these is the fact that the safest way to travel is by air, not ground. Despite the discomfort of delayed and overcrowded flights, air is the safest way to travel because somebody else does all the planning for us. You don't have to worry about the route, weather or rest stops. Air travel also saves time and lives by getting you to your destination quickly, therefore minimizing your exposure to most transportation hazards. While air travel isn't the most cost effective means of travel for most of us, we can still learn the lesson of planning involved in air travel to make our trips safer. When driving by car, plan your route ahead of time. Have clear expectations for a start time, rest stops and how far you will travel each day. Don't try to push it and always have a back-up plan should you encounter unexpected conditions. Also, check the road and weather conditions all along your route, not just for where you are starting and ending. It takes much longer to drive then it does to fly, so if you are taking a car trip this holiday season, take a few extra days of leave, so you can get there and return safely. The NHTSA Web site also notes it is the decisions we make along the way that make a difference. In 2006, there were 457 motor vehicle deaths during the holiday season. Fifty-three percent of these people were not wearing their seatbelts. Our seatbelt checks on base show, as a community, we are doing better at wearing our seatbelts than the general population. You can't let this slip during the holidays just because you are feeling rushed. Seatbelt usage is just one of the many things you control. You also need to take responsibility for the maintenance condition of your car, especially before a long trip. You can also do easy things like stashing an emergency kit in the vehicle with items like a working flashlight and jumper cables so you are prepared for some of the common things that can happen. By making the right decision before you depart on your trip, not only will you be safer, you will also be ready to help another motorist that might be in need. Helping others make smart choices is also a valuable activity. We all tend to get caught up in the stresses of our everyday lives. Your friends, neighbors and coworkers, looking in from the outside, frequently have a much clearer view of your actions. Listen to their advice, and trust their input. When I was a squadron commander, a military member asked for three days of leave to go home for an important family event. He was going to drive from Colorado Springs, Colo., to Chicago and back in the winter, leaving on Friday and returning to work on Monday. Could he have made it? Maybe, but by changing his schedule and giving him a couple of extra days of leave, he had a more enjoyable and safer trip. Additionally, we made a contingency plan to cover his work in case he ran into unexpected delays. He knew he was covered and didn't need to make a bad decision and rush his return. His supervisor was there for him and helped him make a better decision than he would have on his own. In the first 11 weeks since the end of the 101 Critical Days of Summer, there have been 15 accidental deaths across the Air Force. Twelve of them were the result of motor vehicle accidents. These accidents are avoidable if we take the time to plan our travels, make the responsible choices to be safe while we travel and help each other as we are rushing from one place to another. While this is always important, please take special care during the days ahead. If we do this, we can all have a happy and safe holiday season.