AIR FORCE RECURRING PUBLICATION 91-2

From the Editor’s Desk...

ORM in a Storm!

The Hunt Is On...

Firearms – They’re Only as Safe as You Are!

Safety With a Smokepole

When Alcohol Kills...An Air Force Family’s Journey

Into Tragedy

A Motorcyclists’ Nightmare – Head-On at 110 MPH!

Tales From the Crypt...Almost

My Helmet: I Never Leave Home (on a Bicycle)

Without It!

Don’t “Court” a Knee Injury

Saved by the Belt

Short Circuits

3

4

6

8

14

18

24

26

28

30

5

17

page 8

page 18

Features

page 24 Front and back cover crash photos by Bill Luster, © The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky

Departments
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 3

F. WHITTEN PETERS

Secretary of the Air Force

GENERAL MICHAEL E. RYAN

Chief of Staff, USAF

MAJOR GEN FRANCIS C. GIDEON, JR.

Chief of Safety, USAF

COL ROBERT W. SCOTT

Chief, Ground Safety Division

DSN 246-0780

LT COL J. PAUL LANE

Chief, Safety Education and Media Division

Editor-in-Chief

DSN 246-0922

BOB VAN ELSBERG

Managing Editor

DSN 246-0983

DOROTHY SCHUL

Editorial Assistant

DSN 246-1983

FELICIA M. MORELAND

Electronic Design Director

DSN 246-5655

MSGT PERRY J. HEIMER

Photojournalist

DSN 246-0986

Commercial Prefix (505) 846-XXXX

E-Mail – vanelsbr @ kafb.saia.af.mil

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

CHIEF OF SAFETY, USAF

PURPOSE — Road & Rec is published quarterly for the prevention of

vehicle and other ground mishaps. The contents are not directive unless

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amended in light of most recent developments. The inclusion of names

of any specific commercial product, commodity, or service in this publication is for information purposes only and does not imply endorsement

by the Air Force. Certain individuals shown in this publication are not

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grooming standards. DISTRIBUTION — One copy for each five members of the USAF. Air Force units must contact Mr. Robert Van Elsberg

at HQ AFSC/SEMM, Voice – DSN 246-0983, Fax – DSN 246-0931, EMail – vanelsbr @ kafb.saia.af.mil, or by letter to:

Road & Rec Magazine

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9700 G Avenue S.E., Ste 285B

Kirtland AFB NM 87117-5670

to establish or change requirements. Back issues of the magazine are

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POSTAL INFORMATION — Road & Rec (ISSN 1055-7725) is published

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CONTRIBUTIONS

Editor

Road & Rec

HQ AFSC/SEMM

9700 G Avenue S.E., Ste 285B

Kirtland AFB NM 87117-5670

Are you ever bothered when you

hear the term accident used in

reference to an automobile crash

caused by a drunk or irresponsible driver? If you are, you have lots of company. Perhaps that’s because deep inside

we know there’s a big difference between an unpredictable, unpreventable

event and an act of negligence. For example, having your car smashed by a

falling boulder is an accident. However,

having it smashed by a tailgater, drunk

driver, or red-light-runner, isn’t. That’s

why the police typically charge these drivers with being at fault, and their insurance companies consequently raise

their premiums.

If you’ve been bothered by the blurring of the distinction between accidents

and acts of negligence, then read on.

John C. Myre, owner of the commercial

publication Safety Times, recently authored a study on this very issue. I’d like

to share with you the following brief excerpt.

Is an “Accident” Really an Accident?

A basic reason employers and society

don’t pay more attention to off-the-job

safety is that the word “accident” is

used incorrectly.

The dictionary defines accident as “an

unexpected and undesirable event;

something that occurs unexpectedly or

unintentionally; fortune or chance.”

There is no quarrel with the “undesirable” reference, but the belief that accidents are unexpected or the result of fortune or chance is misleading.

For example, is an accident “unexpected” when someone using a ladder

reaches out too far instead of taking

time to reposition the ladder, and then

falls? Does an accident occur by “fortune” or “chance” when a person consistently tailgates and then slams into

the driver ahead of him in a moment of

inattention? Is it “fate” when a boater

drinks too much and then collides with

another boat on a lake at night?

The obvious answer is no! Most

off-the-job accidents can better be

described as failures. They are failures on our part and failures on the

part of others. Stating that someone

was killed or injured in an “accident” tends to exonerate the person

responsible.

Myre pointed out the National Safety

Council has changed its mission statement to replace the words “accidental

causes” with “preventable causes.” The

reason for the change, according to

Myre’s study, was because the council

was seeking “better ways to describe

such incidents and encourage people to

think of risk causes. The word ‘accident’

is inaccurate in safety usage because it

implies bad luck, chance, or fate.”

Take a close look at that last paragraph—especially the final sentence.

How often have we gotten hurt doing

something we knew was unsafe but

called it an “accident” because that

made us feel less guilty? The truth is, if

we are honest, most of us will have to

admit we’ve done it—and yes, my hand

is up, too.

But did you notice the closing words in

the preceding sentence, “think of risk

causes”? Did that sound a little familiar—

maybe a bit like Operational Risk Management? Could it be that many of those

preventable mishaps we’d prefer to call

“accidents” could really be avoided?

Ask yourself that question before driving under the influence of alcohol or fatigue, riding a motorcycle or bicycle without protective gear, going boating

without a life jacket, or trying to prove

you’re Superman by lifting something

that’s beyond your strength. Think about

the hazards involved. Ask yourself if it’s

worth risking a trip to the hospital or

worse? Ask yourself if you can’t do

something to protect yourself and lessen

your risks? Think about your options,

then make what you believe is the best

decision. Also, step up to the plate—be

responsible for your safety and perhaps

that of others—by acting on your decision. Finally, ask yourself later on if you

did the smart thing, if you made the best

decision. If you did, chances are you

won’t have to cover up an embarrassing—possibly painful—act of negligence

with the all-too-often-lame excuse, “I

had an accident.” ■

From the

Editor’s

Desk...

BOB VAN ELSBERG

Managing Editor
4 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999

hile, on a family “vacation” (one of many

family jaunts to out-oftown sporting events involving one of my kids), I had the opportunity to apply the principles of

Operational Risk Management

(ORM). I didn’t think of my actions as

being “formal” ORM at the time, but

with hindsight, they fit the six-step

process “like a glove.”

Picture Tucson, Arizona, in early

April. While most of the country is

thawing out from blustery winter

weather, Tucson is basking in sunshine and comfortable temperatures.

Little if any rain, blue skies, and we’re

dressed in shorts by mid-morning.

Just about the ideal time to be in

southern Arizona—not too hot, not

too cold.

My story begins early one Sunday

morning following 2 days in Tucson

for one of my daughter’s out-of-town

tennis tournaments. The matches

ended late Saturday afternoon, and

all that remained was to pack the

group into the “family truckster” and

hit the open road back to New Mexico. Awakening in our hotel and doing the customary “glance out the

window” to update the local weather

prior to contemplating the drive, I

was greeted by gray skies and—

would you believe it?—falling snow!

And not just a light dusting of snow,

but some of the biggest flakes and

worst visibility I’ve ever seen.

I rubbed my eyes in disbelief, then

looked outside again at the surrealistic scene. However, the picture remained the same. After waking the

kids to have a look at the highly unusual (and hopefully short-lived)

weather, I went about my normal

morning business confident the

weather would clear by departure

time. After all, this WAS Tucson. If it

did snow here, surely it wouldn’t last

long nor would we likely get much

accumulation. I was wrong on both

counts. By truckster engine start time,

there was a healthy accumulation of

snow on the ground and the roads

and no letup in sight.

Faced with a 7-hour-plus drive home

and not knowing the extent

of the storm,

the road conditions, or

storm’s direction of travel, I

contemplated

what would be

the smart move

while warming

up our minivan. Remembering that

Davis-Monthan AFB was

in Tucson, after

loading up the

group and luggage, we

slipped and

slid over to

base ops and

the weather

shop to see

what we could

find out. The

on-duty forecaster pointed

out the storm was moving slowly to

the east along I-10, our return route to

New Mexico, and was likely going to

be dumping snow all day. Contemplating the options, the following two

came to mind, one of which obviously

made better sense:

1. Make the trip regardless of the

weather.

2. Stay in Tucson another night and

wait for the storm to pass.

It was still snowing heavily as we

departed base ops and returned to

the car. Huddled inside the minivan,

the family conference centered on

these two options. Option 2 seemed

to make the most sense to me, but

valid arguments about work and

school on Monday filtered through

the discussions. Added to the argument for option 1 were the questions,

“How bad can it be?” and “What are

the odds of not making it?” Gethome-itis on the part of those family

members who had never “pressed”

bad weather before was becoming

obvious.

But maybe they were right. What

were the odds of not making it?

Faced with a 7-hour-plus drive (on a

LT COL JEFF THOMAS

HQ AFSC/SEFF

continued on next page
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 5

The weather forecast for 9 March called for 2 inches of snow that afternoon. The Gloucester and

Mathews counties of Virginia are not strangers to

snow. However, it comes only once or twice a

winter, if that often, and then rarely more than a few inches at a time.

When the snow moved in early at 0900, we were surprised by the amount—2 inches in less than an hour. The

forecast changed, and the weathermen began predicting as

much as 6 inches more that afternoon. For this area, this

was a major snowstorm, so I made the decision to send

everyone home while they could still get there.

I left a few minutes later and headed west on Route 14, a

four-lane divided highway. The road was already getting

bad, so I kept my speed to 35 mph or slower. Five miles

outside of the Gloucester Courthouse, I saw a Toyota

4Runner in the eastbound lanes cross over the divider and

into the westbound lanes. At that point in the highway, the

eastbound lanes are slightly higher than the westbound

lanes, creating a downhill slope towards the westbound

lanes. My first thought was “Why is that person trying to

make a U-turn here?” I began tapping my brakes and steering to the right, determined to go into the ditch if necessary

to avoid the Toyota. What I did not realize yet was that the

other driver had lost control of her vehicle and was at the

mercy of momentum.

The Toyota slid across the divider, through a drainage

ditch, then into my lane of traffic. The Toyota was now

broadside in the road in front of me. I believed it would

continue across both westbound lanes and into the ditch

on the right side of the road. Expecting this, I began to steer

towards the left to miss the 4Runner. As I crossed the white

dotted line between the westbound lanes, the Toyota

turned directly towards me, and we hit nearly head-on.

Although it takes a couple of minutes to describe what

happened, the events took place in a matter of seconds. As

always, I was wearing my seat belt. However, the force of

the impact threw me forward into it, and I hyperextended

the muscles of my lower neck and upper back. I was sent

to the health clinic at the Yorktown Training Center for

physical therapy and have since been fine.

The other driver, unfortunately, wasn’t so lucky. She

wasn’t wearing her seat belt and ended up going to the

emergency room with possible neck and rib injuries.

As you could have predicted, my 1988 Isuzu Imark came

out the loser in this head-on collision with a sport utility

vehicle. However, thanks to my seat belts, although my car

was “totaled,” I wasn’t. ■

...continued from page 4

BMC MARK RIEGER

Officer in Charge

USCG Aids to Navigation Team Milford Haven

good day) over unknown road conditions and realizing I

was responsible for my family’s safety kept driving me

back to option 2, despite the pressures of school and work

the next day. Sure, the odds of not making it were slim. After all, how often do you hear reports of miles and miles

of traffic being wiped out while traveling through a snowstorm? But on the other hand, how often do you hear

about folks starting out on similar trips and not making it?

After pointing out that 1 day of missed school and work

was a small sacrifice to make to greatly increase the odds

of safely completing our trip, my family finally agreed.

One other factor in the equation was the cost of another

night in the hotel plus dining out. But I kept asking myself, “What price safety?” The decision was made to slip

and slide back to the hotel, located just a few miles from

the base, and try again tomorrow.

Sure enough, Monday dawned with clear blue skies,

warmer temperatures, and no hint of the previous day’s

“blizzard.” The news reports weren’t full of details about

massive pileups on I-10 between Arizona and New Mexico, so we climbed into the minivan and made an uneventful trip back home. As we headed east, I kept thinking that maybe the decision I’d made had been too conservative. Maybe we did waste a day for no reason.

Upon returning home, I had my daughter call another

tennis player from New Mexico whose family had also

been at the tournament and elected to return on “snowy

Sunday.” It turns out that their drive had taken 14-plus

hours, with some of the drive spent dodging single-car accidents and vehicles stalled in the snow.

I felt vindicated. I hadn’t exposed my family to any unnecessary risks and, obviously, we’d made it home safely.

Faced with the same unknowns and knowns in the future,

I’d make the same decision again. Was it overly conservative? Maybe a little. But how conservative is too conservative when it comes to the safety of your family?

Now with all of that said, did I actually sit down at the

start of this event and consciously apply the six ORM

principles? No. The steps and decision-making seemed

pretty common sense to me. But after all, isn’t that what

ORM is—a commonsense approach to minimize risk? ■
6 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999

Courtesy Sep/Oct/Nov 98 Safetyline

We saw this humorous chronicle of a day of

hunting in a base newspaper. The things that

happened to the fictional hunter may seem

ridiculous. However, when we looked at our reports of

hunting mishaps, we realized that truth really is sometimes stranger than fiction. To prove our point, we have

inserted portions of mishap reports in italics.

0200 - Alarm clock rang.

0300 - Hunting partners arrived, dragged me out of bed.

0310 - Threw everything except the kitchen sink into

pickup.

0330 - Left for deep woods.

0500 - Drove back home to pick up gun.

0530 - Drove like crazy to get to the woods before

daylight.

The following mishap shows what can happen when you’re

in a hurry and in a dark car. While driving down an interstate

in the early morning hours, a petty officer grabbed a bottle of

Super Glue instead of eye drops and squirted the glue into his

right eye.

0700 - Set up camp. Forgot the tent.

0730 - Headed for the woods.

0735 - Saw eight elk.

0737 - Gun didn’t fire. All I heard was “click.”

While he was hunting, a BM3 fired a .32-caliber pistol twice.

Neither bullet discharged. After he returned home, he started to

disassemble the gun. It fired, shooting him in the hand.

0738 - Loaded gun while watching elk go over the hill.

A petty officer and his father were cleaning and loading

their guns. The petty officer loaded a .22-caliber rifle and

handed it to his father to lay it on the table. The gun fell to the

floor and shot the petty officer in the foot. In another instance,

an AD3 visited a friend and asked to look at his 12-gauge

pump shotgun. Since the gun was loaded, the AD3 started

unloading it. A round jammed as he was trying to clear it. The

gun discharged and blew off the tip of his little finger.

0930 - Headed back to camp.

1000 - Still looking for camp.

A hunter stumbled while he was walking in a field and carrying a .22-caliber rifle. When the rifle discharged, the bullet

ricocheted off a rock and hit the hunter in the mouth.

1001- Realized I didn’t know where camp was.

1200 - Fired gun for help. Ate wild berries.

1205 - Ran out of bullets. Eight elk came back.
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 7

1300 - Stomach felt strange.

1310 - Realized berries were poisonous.

A QMSN was walking down a street when he noticed a

mushroom in the ground and decided to eat it. Shortly after

doing so, he became violently ill with food poisoning.

1335 - Rescued.

1336 - Rushed to hospital to have stomach pumped.

1530 - Arrived back at camp.

1540 - Left camp to kill elk.

1550 - Returned to camp for bullets.

1600 - Loaded gun. Left camp again.

A sailor was deer hunting with a 12-gauge pump shotgun

loaded with buckshot. He took a break and rested the loaded

barrel on his foot. The gun discharged, shooting off his second

and third toes.

1630 - Emptied gun on squirrel that was bugging me.

An FC3 fired about 50 rounds in a Ruger .41-caliber magnum pistol. He holstered the weapon with a round in the

chamber. The round apparently absorbed the heat of the

weapon and “cooked off,” shooting the FC3 in the foot.

1700 - Arrived at camp. Saw elk grazing near pickup.

1701 - Loaded gun.

An OS1 went hunting with several friends. He took his gun

from his truck’s gun mount and began to load it. However, he

didn’t realize the gun was already loaded. It discharged and

shot him in the foot.

1702 - Fired gun.

1703 - Missed elk. Shot pickup.

A petty officer was one of five people in a deer- and elkhunting party. As one of the people in the party started to unload his rifle, it discharged. The bullet passed through the seat

of a pickup truck, broke into fragments, and hit the petty officer in the leg, arm, torso, and right eye.

1735 - Hunting partner arrived in camp dragging 

dead elk.

1736 - Repressed desire to shoot hunting partner.

Although people don’t shoot their hunting partners on purpose, since FY93, gun handling has killed 5 sailors (2 of them

while hunting) and injured 48 (7 while hunting). In the same

time frame, 7 marines have died (1 while hunting) and 30 injured (4 while hunting). In one incident, a Navy officer went

hunting with his son and a friend. His friend was carrying a

loaded 12-gauge shotgun when he stumbled. The gun went off

and shot the officer in his face and neck.

1737 - Fell into campfire.

A lieutenant was on a camping trip sitting around a fire

with friends. He stood up and walked toward the fire to add

wood. The ground was wet, and the lieutenant slipped and fell

into the fire. He received second-degree burns on his hand.

1800 - Changed clothes. Threw burned ones in fire.

1805 - Took pickup. Left hunting partner and his elk

in camp.

1815 - Pickup boiled over because of hole shot in

block.

1816 - Started walking.

1820 - Stumbled and fell. Dropped gun in mud.

1825 - Met bear.

1827 - Fired gun. Barrel plugged with mud blew up.

An MM2 was walking with two other hunters. He noticed

the barrel of his rifle was fouled with mud. He tried to clear his

rifle using the middle finger of his right hand. The loaded gun

discharged and shot off the petty officer’s finger.

1829 - Climbed tree.

This sailor was climbing down from a tree stand when a bolt

on the attached ladder sheared. The sailor lost his balance and

fell 30 feet, breaking his wrist. In another instance, an HMC

tied two lengths of rope together, attached one end to his car,

and hung the other end over the limb of a tree. He grabbed that

end, and his wife drove the car so he could use the rope as a

hoist to climb the tree. When he was about 15 feet off the

ground, the knot came undone [Where’s a boatswain’s mate

when you need one? Ed.] The doc fell and injured his back.

2000 - Bear left. Wrapped *#@$^$!% gun around tree.

2230 - Home at last.

At the end of a hunting day, a lieutenant pulled his truck off

the side of the road to unload his handgun. As he pulled the

gun from its holster, the hammer got caught on the sleeve of

his sweater. The gun went off and shot him in the leg.

Next day - Watched football game on TV. Slowly tore

hunting license into small pieces. ■

Editor’s Note: Before you shake your head and say, “Tsk-tsk—those poor,

dumb Navy guys,” check out our own performance last year.

One hunter leaned his LOADED shotgun against his vehicle, began taking his

jacket off, and then saw the shotgun begin to fall. He caught the muzzle with his

left hand just as the shotgun hit the ground and went off, taking off enough of his

left thumb that he can now count fractions on his fingers.

Another hunter inadvertently took aim at his right foot—and hit it—while attempting to unload his rifle. His gun, an older Remington Model 700 30.06 bolt

action rifle, required the safety be in the “fire” position to eject a loaded cartridge

from the chamber. Remington changed the safety’s design in 1986 to prevent

this problem, but owners of older Model 700s beware!

Yet another hunter found that the law of gravity was still intact when he failed

to follow instructions while setting up his tree stand and fell 15 feet, breaking his

hip. After spending 13 hours firing off shots and yelling for help, he was finally

found by the base game warden.

Finally, one hunter in Georgia had anything but a “boaring” experience when

he and a friend killed a wild pig one evening. Going for a sled to help drag their

trophy out of the thick brush, our hunter got confused as to his directions—and

wasn’t seen again for a day and a half. When he was found, he was dehydrated

and suffering from heat stroke. The editor has hunted this base in the very same

area. Base hunting regulations require all hunters to have a compass, flashlight,

and canteen, among other items, specifically to prevent mishaps like this.

Our 5-Year Stats

Since FY93, we’ve had 11 hunting mishaps including 2

fatalities, 2 individuals who suffered permanent partial

injuries, and 7 Class C mishaps.

And you’re not automatically safe just because you’re

home with your cleaning gear spread out in front of you.

We’ve had 1 permanent partial injury and 14 Class C

mishaps occur while people were cleaning their

firearms. Wanna bet most if not all of these individuals

thought their firearms were unloaded?

We also have a bad habit of shooting off our (unloaded?) firearms while handling them or showing them

to others. We’ve had 6 fatalities, 2 permanent partial injuries, and 31 Class C mishaps attributable to these

mishaps. Two of these, one fatality and one Class C, involved individuals who had mixed alcohol and firearms.

Talk abut an accident looking for a place to happen!
8 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999

Editor’s Note: In looking at the 50

hunting accidents in the Air Force between 1 October 1992 and the present,

two things are obvious. First, gravity

still works—just ask the 18 hunters

who fell out of tree stands or trees. Second, firearms still go off unexpectedly—just ask the eight hunters who shot

themselves instead of their game. Of

the eight accidental discharges, two resulted in fatalities and two others led

to permanent injuries. These were

mishaps that could have been avoided

had the hunters involved practiced safe

gun handling and properly used their

firearm’s safeties. Let’s look at the narratives from these mishaps, then look

at how they might have been avoided,

and, finally, review how modern gun

safeties work.

The Mishaps

Mishap 1: The hunter was hunting with his father and was up in a

tree when he shot a deer with his

Winchester Model 70, 30.06 rifle. After shooting the deer, he left his rifle

on the tree stand and proceeded to

climb down the tree to look at the

deer. As he climbed down, he jarred

the tree, causing the rifle to fall to

the ground. The rifle discharged,

striking the hunter in the chest and

right shoulder. According to the

hunter, the safety was on at the time

the weapon fired. The mishap report stated that the impact of the rifle hitting the ground caused the rifle’s firing pin to move forward and

caused the rifle to fire.

Mishap 2. The hunter was hunting with a .357 Magnum revolver.

While sitting on top of a small dirt

mound with the gun sitting on the

ground to his left, he thought he

heard a noise behind him and

picked up the gun with his left

hand. As he picked up the gun, it

discharged into his left side.

Mishap 3. The hunter was home

on leave and had been drinking the

day he went hunting and on the previous day. The hunter decided to go

hunting after dark using a powerful

flashlight to temporarily transfix the

deer, giving him time to shoot. The

hunter was hunting with a friend

and using an older lever-action rifle.

The hunter saw a deer and cocked

the rifle, but did not shoot because

the deer ran off. The hunter and his

friend started to follow the deer

back in the direction they had come

when they came upon a trail that led

to a house. They then turned in that

direction. While crossing a small

clearing, the hunter’s friend heard

the rifle go off and the hunter groan.

The friend turned and saw the

hunter on the ground and ran to get

help. The responding law enforceBOB VAN ELSBERG

Managing Editor

Photos by MSgt Perry J. Heimer
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 9

ment officer found the hunter lying

on his back with a gunshot wound

to the head. The hunter was pronounced dead at 0345 hours. His

Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) was

0.257.

Mishap 4. While sitting on a rock,

the hunter shifted his weight, and

his .45 caliber handgun discharged.

The bullet went through his right

leg.

Mishap 5. It had been raining all

afternoon when the two hunters returned from a 31/2-hour hunting

trip. Hunter No. 1 set his loaded

shotgun on the ground and leaned it

against his vehicle. Both hunters began removing wet clothing. While

hunter No. 1 was taking off his jacket, he noticed his shotgun was starting to fall. He immediately reached

for the barrel end of the shotgun

with his left hand, placing his

thumb over the muzzle. The shotgun struck the ground and discharged, severing the top of his

thumb to the first joint. Hunter No.

2 drove his injured friend to a medical center for treatment. The injured

hunter was later transported to a regional hospital for surgery. The injured hunter sustained a Class B, or

permanent partial disability, due to

the severity of the injury.

Mishap 6. Hunter No. 1 was on a

hunting trip with hunter No. 2 and

was looking for his wallet in the

backseat of his vehicle. While

hunter No. 1 was looking for his

wallet, hunter No. 2 was in the front

seat unloading his shotgun when it

accidentally discharged. The shotgun slug grazed hunter No. 1’s right

leg, then went through his left thigh

and lodged in the car’s back door.

Mishap 7. The hunter was on a

hunting trip. While removing his .50

caliber black powder rifle from his

vehicle, the rifle discharged and hit

him in the groin. He subsequently

bled to death.

Mishap 8. Hunters No. 1 and 2 arrived at their hunting spot at 0630.

They went out on a morning hunt,

then met back at their truck at approximately 0915. Hunter No. 1 got

into the passenger side of the pickup truck and laid his Remington 700

BDL 30.06 caliber rifle across his lap

with the muzzle pointed towards

the floorboard and his right foot. He

then attempted to unload the rifle’s

chamber and magazine. He placed

the safety switch in the “fire” position (required in pre-1985 Remington 700 rifles in order to move the

bolt upward and backward to eject a

round from the chamber). He

claimed that when he lifted the bolt

all the way up, the rifle discharged.

The round struck the top of his right

foot near the ball of the great toe, exited the bottom of his foot, then

went through the floor of the truck

and lodged in the ground. Hunter

No. 1 had several years of hunting

experience and had taken the state

hunter’s safety course in 1994.

However, he had borrowed the rifle

and was unfamiliar with its safety

features. As a result of the injury, he

lost the mobility of his great right

toe and a large amount of soft tissue

in the center bottom of his foot. He

required several reconstructive

surgeries followed by 6 months of

physical therapy. The injury was

ruled a Class B, or permanent partial disability.

Some Observations

Each of the above-mentioned mishaps was preventable through safe

gun handling practices. While two

of the mishaps purportedly involved a mechanical malfunction on

the part of the firearm (we’ll examine that later in the “Firearms

Safeties—How They Work” section

of this article), all of these mishaps

could have been avoided. Let’s look

at how.

Mishap 1. The mishap hunter

shot and downed his game animal.

Because he did not bring his rifle

with him when he descended from

the tree stand, he apparently did not

expect to need a second shot to finish the deer. Since he did not need a

continued

Older Winchester Model 94 rifles lacked the crossbolt safety found on current production

models. As a result, carrying the rifle as shown could lead to an accidental discharge.

Current production Winchester Model 94 rifles have a crossbolt safety which effectively

blocks the hammer from striking the firing pin.
second shot and the rifle would be

out of immediate reach in any case,

there was no need to chamber a

fresh round. Had the hunter either

completely unloaded the rifle or

simply left the fired case in the

chamber, there would have been no

danger of an accidental discharge

when the rifle fell from the stand.

Lesson learned: Don’t place a live

cartridge in the chamber at any other time than when you expect to

shoot at game.

Mishap 2. As the mishap hunter

picked up his .357 Magnum revolver, it discharged into his left

side.

Lesson learned: Modern production revolvers are marvelously safe

firearms thanks to the widespread

use of hammer block and transfer

bar safeties (more on these later in

the section on firearms safeties).

These work automatically, making it

impossible for the gun to discharge

until the trigger is pulled. So how

can an accident like this happen? It

is almost certain the hunter had his

finger on the trigger when he picked

up the gun, and it is also very likely

that the revolver was already

cocked. In this condition, only a

very light pull on the trigger—anywhere between 2 and 6 pounds of

pull—was needed to discharge the

gun. When hunting with a revolver,

the trigger finger should never be

placed inside the trigger guard nor

should the hammer be cocked until

the shooter is ready to fire. Note:

Current production Colt Peacemaker revolvers—faithful to the

original design dating from 1873—

lack either of the above-mentioned

safeties. While these are six-shot revolvers, safety dictates loading

only five chambers and leaving the

hammer resting on the empty sixth

chamber.

Mishap 3. An intoxicated hunter

saw a deer, cocked his rifle (an older

model Winchester Model 94 lever

action), tried to follow it through the

woods, and accidentally shot himself—perhaps by stumbling or tripping--while carrying a loaded and

cocked gun.

Lessons learned: First, drinking

and hunting don’t go together any

better than drinking and driving. A

hunter needs to have his wits about

him and be completely alert while

carrying a firearm. Second, while

newer Winchester Model 94 rifles

have a hammer block safety that allows the gun to be carried safely

with the hammer cocked, older

Model 94s don’t have this safety

feature (see the photo accompanying this story). Older Model 94s are

designed to be carried with the

hammer drawn back and set in the

half-cock position. In this position,

the gun is safe until the hammer is

pulled all of the way back, the lever

is squeezed tightly against the

frame, and the trigger pulled. This

hunter ignored the half-cock safety

feature on his firearm and died as a

result.

Mishap 4. This hunter’s .45 cal10 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 

Charles Domenici, owner of Charlie’s Sporting Goods, visually inspects the chamber of

this Winchester Model 94 rifle. Because cartridges can become jammed in the rifle’s tubular magazine, Domenici suggests shooters use a pen or some other object to ensure the

magazine follower is fully rearward (inset photo).
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 11

iber handgun went off while he was

sitting on a rock and shifting his

weight.

Lessons learned: Without knowing whether the handgun involved

was a revolver or a semiautomatic,

it is impossible to know all of the details of what happened. Whichever

type of handgun it was, it’s likely

the hammer was cocked as the force

needed to pull the trigger all the

way through a double-action stroke

(used when the trigger is used to

pull the hammer back) is typically

10 to 12 pounds or more. It’s unlikely that the hunter shifting his weight

could create sufficient force or move

the trigger far enough to complete a

double-action pull. It takes only a

fraction of a second to cock the

hammer to make an accurate hunting shot. It takes MUCH longer,

however, for a bullet wound to heal.

Mishap 5. A hunter leaned his

shotgun against the side of his

truck, then was injured when it fell

and discharged.

Lessons learned: The hunter

should have unloaded his shotgun

prior to returning to his vehicle.

Placing a loaded weapon against a

relatively smooth surface—like the

side of a vehicle—is just begging to

have it fall over with the slightest

jostle. Also, it’s a smart practice to

unload your weapon outside of

your camp or before arriving back at

your vehicle. You’re not likely to

scare up any game at this point, but

you might have an accidental discharge and injure yourself or a hunting companion.

Mishap 6. A hunter attempting to

unload a shotgun inside a vehicle

accidentally shot his companion.

Lessons learned: The front seat of

a car or a pickup is a very confined

place for one or more individuals to

handle their rifles or shotguns. It’s

even more awkward when you’re

trying to unload a weapon—especially when the other person may be

moving about and end up in the line

of fire. The right move is to unload

your firearm before getting into your

vehicle.

Mishap 7. This hunter apparently

pulled his loaded black powder rifle

toward himself muzzle first and

This Winchester Model 70’s safety is in the forward or “fire” position. The Model 70’s threeposition safety allows the shooter to eject a chambered cartridge without any danger of an

accidental discharge.

This Remington Model 700’s two-position safety is in the rear, or “safe,” position. Current

production model 700’s allow the shooter to eject an unfired cartridge with the safety in the

“safe” position.

Some bolt action rifles, such as this older Ruger Model 77 and the Savage 110 series, use

a two-position sliding safety. These guns normally require their safeties be in the “fire”

position to eject an unfired cartridge from the chamber. Hunters need to exercise care not

to accidentally discharge these firearms.

continued on page 13
12 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999

Firearms Safeties—How They Work

Hunting Rifles

Bolt actions—When Paul Mauser developed his famous Gewehr (Rifle) 98 for the German Army, he created the quintessential bolt action system—one that

would be copied for nearly every bolt action sporting

rifle built this century. The Mauser 98—designed to be

as soldier-proof as possible—has a three-position safety.

When the safety is laid all the way over to the left, the

bolt can be operated and the gun fired. When the safety

is pointed straight up, the gun cannot be fired, but the

bolt can be worked to eject unfired cartridges. Laying

the safety all the way to the right both prevents the gun

from being fired and locks the bolt in the closed position.

This positive three-position safety allowed the infantryman to load, fire, and unload his weapon with little danger of an accidental discharge and the Model 98

worked well enough to equip the German Army during

both World Wars. Since that time, many American

sporting rifle makers have copied much of the Mauser

98’s design; however, they have often opted for different safety systems. We’ll look at those in this section.

➧ Winchester Model 70—This rifle virtually copied

the three-position Mauser system except that it was

designed to move in the horizontal plane so that a

scope could be mounted low over the bolt. When

the safety is fully forward, the gun may be fired.

When the safety is pivoted one stop toward the

rear, the gun can’t be fired, but the bolt can be

moved to eject an unfired cartridge from the chamber. When the safety is pivoted fully to the rear, the

bolt is locked shut and the gun cannot be fired.

➧ Remington Model 700—This rifle uses a two-position safety that was modified during the 1980s. On

current production Model 700s, the forward position allows the bolt to be worked and the gun fired.

The rear position prevents the gun from being fired

but allows the bolt to be worked to eject a live cartridge from the chamber. Older Model 700s, such as

the one involved in Mishap 8, used a two-position

safety which locked the bolt closed when the safety

was in the rear, or safe, position. Ejecting a live

round meant placing the safety forward in the

“fire” position so that the bolt could be worked.

This meant that if a hunter accidentally placed his

finger on the trigger while attempting to unload the

gun, he could suffer an accidental discharge.

➧ Ruger Model 77/Savage 110—Current production

Rugers feature a three-position safety similar to the

Winchester Model 70; however, older Ruger rifles

and the Savage 110 series of rifles use a two-position safety. In the forward position, the rifle may be

fired. In the rear position, the rifle cannot be fired

nor can the bolt be worked to eject a live cartridge

from the chamber.

Lever Actions—No hunting rifle is quite so associated

with the history of America as the lever action. Current

production Winchester Model 94s and Marlin 336s feature a crossbolt safety designed to block the hammer so

that it can’t move forward and strike the firing pin. Older Winchester and Marlin rifles relied upon a half-cock

setting for the hammer and a spring-loaded safety pin

in the bottom of the frame. First, the gun was loaded by

working the lever, then the trigger was pulled while the

hunter put his thumb on the hammer, letting it move

gently forward to its half-cock or “safe” setting. Failing

to place the hammer in its half-cock position contributed significantly to the fatality in Mishap 3.

Semiautomatic/Pump-Action Rifles and Shotguns—

While there are a variety of safeties on these firearms,

most have a crossbolt safety on or near the trigger

guard. Some, such as the Mossberg 500, have a tangmounted sliding safety. Many of these firearms will

have a separate button or other device that can be

pushed to allow them to be safely unloaded.

Over/Under and Side-by-Side Double Barrel Shotguns—Most of these shotguns have a two-position sliding safety on their tang. They can be unloaded with the

safety in the “safe” position by pushing the loading

lever, normally also mounted on the tang, and breaking

open the shotgun’s action.

Handgun Safeties

➧ Revolvers—Modern revolvers typically feature either a hammer block or transfer bar safety that operates automatically as the weapon is used. Hammer block safeties place a metal block in the path of

the hammer, preventing it from moving fully forward until the trigger is pulled. Transfer bar

safeties rise from a recess in the gun’s frame to

bridge an open space between the hammer and the

firing pin. Only when the transfer bar is in place,

which occurs when the trigger is pulled, can the firing pin be driven forward far enough to discharge

the cartridge.

➧ Semiautomatics—With the possible exception of

the Colt Model 1911, commonly chambered in .45

Automatic, few centerfire semiautomatic handguns

are used for hunting. Most semiautomatic handguns used for hunting are chambered in .22 Long

Rifle and are intended for hunting small game. The

Browning, Ruger, and Smith and Wesson .22 caliber

pistols use a two-position safety lever on the left

side of the frame. Normally, pushing the safety

lever down moves the safety to the “fire” position,

while moving the safety up prevents the pistol from

firing. The Colt .22 Target differs in that it uses a

frame-mounted crossbolt safety that is pushed to

the right for the “fire” position, then back to the left

to make the firearm safe. The Colt 1911 has three

safeties, a thumb-operated lever on the left side of

the frame, a magazine safety which prevents the

gun from being fired if the magazine is removed,

and a spring-loaded grip safety which prevents the

gun from being fired unless the handgrip is firmly
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 13

was killed when the weapon discharged.

Lessons learned: Never pull any

weapon—be it a modern firearm or a

muzzleloading rifle—toward you by

the barrel. Should the firearm discharge, you are right in the path of the

blast. Because a muzzleloading rifle

cannot be unloaded—the charge must

be shot out—many primitive weapons

hunters are tempted to place a loaded

gun in their vehicle if they have to drive to a different location during their

hunt. Removing the percussion cap

from a percussion rifle or the priming

powder from the pan of a flintlock will

drastically reduce the likelihood the

gun will fire. However, even those actions don’t ensure 100 percent safety

because black powder can be ignited

by static electricity. The safest practice

is to shoot the load out of the gun before placing it in your vehicle. Reloading is a bit of a chore, but it beats a .50

caliber hole in your anatomy.

Mishap 8. A hunter accidentally

shot himself in the foot while attempting to unload an unfamiliar hunting

rifle while sitting in the front seat of a

pickup.

Lessons learned: This one is a lot like

Mishap 6—unloading a weapon inside

a vehicle is asking for trouble. In addition, however, this hunter was unfamiliar with the rifle he was using and

its safety system. Before shooting any

firearm, it is imperative to know how

the safety works. Not all rifle and

shotgun safeties work the same, and

getting confused can lead to a painful

accident. ■

squeezed. This handgun cannot fire unless it is held firmly in

the shooter’s hand.

Parting Thoughts

Although the author enjoys shooting a variety of hunting and

military rifles, the best expert on guns is inevitably a trained gunsmith. Charles Jackson has 15 years’ experience working on and

repairing firearms at Charlie’s Sporting Goods store in Albuquerque. While he’ll tell you the safeties in modern rifles are excellent, he’ll also tell you that safety is ultimately in the hands of

the hunter. He advises hunters leave the chamber empty until

they’re ready to fire.

“Accidents can happen—something can break,” he said. “Even

on a bolt action gun, if something breaks just right, it can go off.

The only way it’s safe is if there is no round in the chamber.”

He gave an example. “A couple years ago, a man and his son

went deer hunting. He was using one of the safest guns made—a

Marlin 336 with a crossbolt safety. As he was taking it out of the

(truck) rifle rack, he shot his son through the middle of the back.

It should have never been loaded.”

Jackson added that rifles typically have rebounding firing

pins—firing pins that are shorter than the channel they move in

inside the bolt and are actually held back by a heavy spring. Only

a powerful forward blow from a hammer or striker can force these

firing pins forward with enough force to strike the primer and fire

the cartridge. Dropping a rifle—even from a considerable

height—normally won’t drive the firing pin forward forcefully

enough to fire the cartridge.

Proper maintenance is also important, Jackson said. “Lack of

maintenance can cause the safety not to engage.” He explained

poor maintenance can lead to ever more dangerous problems. “I

had a single-shot 20 gauge shotgun come in. The guy said that as

soon as he dropped a shell in and closed the gun, it went off. The

firing pin was rusted in the (forward) firing position. If it had been

a semiautomatic (shotgun), it would have fired fully automatic.”

Citing the information being taught currently in Hunter Safety

courses, Jackson advised hunters never enter their camp or get inside a vehicle without first unloading their gun and opening the action. “Would you walk into camp with a bow and arrow and the

bowstring drawn all the way back? Then why walk into camp with

a loaded weapon?” ■

Pulling the trigger lowers the

hammer block

safety out of the

hammer’s path

and allows the

firing pin to

come forward

and fire the cartridge.

The hammer block safety system used in this Smith and Wesson

revolver prevents it from being fired until the trigger is pulled back.

continued from page 11
14 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999

t was a beautiful fall morning in Missouri.

Sitting under a hickory tree, I could hear the

barking of a tree squirrel somewhere in the

leafy canopy above me. Sitting almost motionless, I slowly moved my head to scan the tree

limbs. In my hands I held a modern-made

replica of a .36-caliber Kentucky rifle. My

hunting load, a .350 patched ball sitting on top of 30

grains of FFFg black powder, would take a squirrel

cleanly out to 75 yards or so without damaging too

much of the meat.

Sitting there in the morning mist I felt like I had

stepped back 150 years in history. I knew what it felt

like to really hunt—to have to make one shot count—

not just spray bullets at my game, as I might be tempted with a .22 semiautomatic rifle. But then, wasn’t this

more of what hunting was supposed to be? Not man

overwhelming nature with technology, but rather a

challenge of a man’s marksmanship, a fairer equation

between the hunter and the hunted.

Much the same motive brings thousands of American hunters into the woods each fall, not only to hunt

small game like squirrel, but also to bring home big

game such as deer or elk. And an essential part of a

successful hunt is being safe. The following is a short

primer on how to safely load and carry these interesting primitive weapons.

As their name suggests, muzzleloading rifles are

loaded from the front. Anyone who has seen a movie

about the early American frontier has seen a rifleman

pour powder from a flask down the muzzle of his rifle. But like so many things from Hollywood, this example is inaccurate and, in fact, downright dangerous.

A burning ember inside the barrel from a previous

shot could ignite the new powder charge, travel back

up to the flask, and explode it like a hand grenade.

When you consider a flask may hold as much as a halfpound of black powder, the potential for a devastating

explosion that could take off a hand—or worse—is obvious.

The proper way to load a powder charge is to pour

the powder into a preset measure, then pour the powder from the measure into the barrel. Should a spark

ignite the charge, most—if not all—of the charge will

be burned in the barrel, posing little threat to the

shooter.

To prevent even the possibility of this happening

and to preserve the accuracy of their weapons, many

hunters swab the barrel with a damp patch after each

BOB VAN ELSBERG

Managing Editor

Photos by MSgt Perry J. Heimer
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 15

shot, following it with a dry patch before reloading.

Once the powder has been poured down the barrel,

the next chore is to load the projectile. Muzzleloading

rifles traditionally have used either a patched lead

ball or a conical-shaped lead bullet with a hollow

base. In the case of a patched ball, a slightly undersized lead ball is placed in the center of a fabric patch

and rammed down onto the powder charge. The

patch, rather than the ball, engages the rifling when

the gun is fired and spins the ball so that it flies accurately. By comparison, conical bullets have a hollow

base that expands upon firing to engage the rifling.

Today, some hunters use a plastic sabot much like a

patch, loading a modern pistol bullet into the sabot

and ramming the combination down the barrel. Once

the desired projectile is loaded, the final step is to

place a percussion cap on the nipple of a percussion

gun, or prime the pan of a flintlock. The key point to

remember while loading is to NEVER allow the muzzle to point at any part of your body!

Once the rifle is loaded, you’re ready to go hunting.

Jim Traver, owner of the Front Stuffer, a sporting

goods dealer specializing in black powder firearms,

suggests one of two ways to safely carry a percussion

cap-fired muzzleloading rifle.

“Most hunters use the half-cock setting on their

hammer so that the gun is safe but can be cocked and

fired quickly if needed,” he said. However, he added,

continued on next page

To safely load a muzzleloading rifle, the black powder charge

should be poured from the powder flask into a powder measure–not directly down the firearm’s barrel.

Once the proper powder charge has been poured into the measure, the charge is then poured from the measure directly down

the bore.

A lead round ball is then placed in the center of a cloth patch, positioned directly over the muzzle, then started down the bore with a

short starter. Once the patched ball is a few inches down the bore,

a standard ramrod will be used to seat it firmly against the powder

charge.
16 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

OF MUZZLELOADING

1. Muzzleloading firearms are not toys. Treat them with

the same respect due any firearm.

2. Use only black powder of the proper granulation size

in your muzzleloading firearms. Such guns are not

designed to withstand the higher pressures developed by modern smokeless powders.

3. NEVER fire a muzzleloader unless the ball or shot

charge is firmly seated against the powder charge.

An air space between powder and projectile will

cause the barrel to be ringed or bulged, thus ruined

for accurate shooting, and in some cases may cause

the barrel to rupture, with attendant injury to the

shooter and bystanders.

4. Do not exceed manufacturer’s recommended maximum loads or attempt to load multiple projectile

loads. When in doubt, secure information concerning

proper loads from an authoritative source.

5. When loading your muzzleloading firearm, do not expose your body to the muzzle. Grasp the ramrod

only a short distance above where it protrudes from

the barrel, pushing it down in short strokes, rather

than grasping it near the outer end, where, in the

event the rod breaks, the shooter’s arm could be injured by the splintered end of the broken rod.

6. Always make sure that your downrange area is a

safe impact area for your projectiles. Maximum

range of a firearm is obtained by firing at a 35-degree angle above horizontal. Round balls may carry

as far as 800 yards and elongated projectiles well

beyond this distance.

7. Never smoke while loading, shooting, or handling

black powder.

8. Do not load directly from powder horn or flask. Use a

separate measure. A lingering spark in the barrel can

ignite the incoming charge, causing the horn or flask

to explode in your hand.

9. The half-cock notch is the safety notch on a muzzleloader. Always be sure it is functioning properly.

If your lock or triggers seem to be improperly functioning, take your firearm to a competent muzzleloading gunsmith to have the problem checked and

corrected.

10. The nature of a muzzleloading firearm requires that

you, the shooter, exercise caution and skill in the

care, loading, and use of such a firearm. Make certain that you are informed as to the proper steps in

such care and use. 

Courtesy The National Muzzleloading Rifle Association

continued from page 15

The last step in loading a muzzleloading rifle is to place a percussion cap on the nipple.

Muzzleloading rifles typically have a half-cock position which

allows the rifle to be carried safely while hunting. Some hunters

increase their margin of safety by placing a piece of leather

between the hammer and the nipple.

it is not impossible for a hammer to slip off of its halfcock setting, so he sometimes uses another, possibly

safer method. “I put a small piece of leather between

the hammer and the percussion cap, then let the hammer all of the way down.” He explained that the

leather serves as a cushion, preventing a sudden blow

against the hammer from firing the percussion cap.

With flintlock rifles, the half-cock setting is the

prime means of carrying the rifle safely in the field,

Traver said. While there are leather guards that can be

slipped over the frizzen, removing them is time-consuming when the hunter is trying to quickly get a shot

off at his game. ■
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 17

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NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Get the Facts Before Buying

I

f you’ve ever bought a

car—especially a

used

one—

you’ve probably

wondered, “Are

they asking a fair

price?” “Where has the

car been?” “Does it have a

history as a lemon?” “Who

owned it, and is there anything bad about the car I

should know about?”

While the dealer will gladly

tell you the price, you’ve

probably gotten the standard

“I dunno” answer if you

asked about the vehicle’s history. Well, you don’t have to

be in the dark any longer. If you have

access to the Internet, the vehicle’s

VIN (Vehicle Identification Number),

and you’re willing to spend $14.95

on your credit card, you can answer

those nagging questions before you

sign a purchase contract.

How? The answer is simple. Look

up the Kelley Blue Book Web Page at

www.kbb.com, then click on “Used

Car Values.” This will take you to a

screen that offers “trade-in” or “retail” values. Click on “Retail,” then

on the next screen, click on the year

model of the car. You’ll then get a

screen asking you to “Select a Make,”

so click on the make of the vehicle.

The next screen will ask you to select

the model, so be sure to enter the correct model as many cars come in two

or three versions. Next you’ll be

asked for the vehicle’s mileage, the

zip code where the dealership is located, and to click

on the options the

car comes

equipped with. In

addition, you’ll

also be

asked

your

estimate

of the

vehicle’s

condition.

Click on

the

“Submit” button at the

bottom left of the page,

and the next screen will tell

you the retail value of the car—

something you should know when

bargaining with the dealer. More importantly, the paragraph on the

screen titled “Consumer Rated Condition” will have within it the words

“title history” highlighted. This is

where you can begin your search on

the history of the used vehicle you’re

thinking about buying.

Clicking on “title history” will

bring up the Kelley Blue Book’s

“Carfax Vehicle History Service”

page. You’ll see a block where you

can enter the VIN number and another block for your zip code. Enter

these numbers, then click on the

“Go” button. The next screen will

identify the vehicle, where it was

made, and the number of “History

Records” for the vehicle. Click on the

highlighted words telling you how

many history records were found on

the vehicle. (For instance, the author

recently purchased a program car—a

1998 Chevrolet Lumina—which

showed “three records.”)

The next screen will allow you to

choose between two options—checking the title histories for several vehicles for a one-time charge of $19.95,

or checking the title of a single vehicle for $14.95. Click on whichever

you desire, then be ready to enter

your credit card number and expiration date in the blocks provided.

Does it work? You betcha! In less

than a minute, you’ll be reading the

title history of the vehicle, when and

where it was bought and sold, who

owned it, if it was a commercial company such as a rental car service, and

whether or not there are any liens

against the title. In addition, you’ll be

able to see other facts, including any

manufacturer buybacks (lemon) listings against the vehicle, if it has been

in an accident or rebuilt because of

accident damage, or if it has been repossessed or suffered flood damage.

These useful facts which dealerships will rarely—if ever—provide

you, can keep you from making a

costly mistake. Oh, and what

about the three records on the author’s used Lumina? As suspected, the car was originally purchased by a car rental company in

California, then sold during an

auto auction to a local dealership.

And although you didn’t ask, the

author paid $2,000 less than the

Kelley Blue Book listing of

$15,065—a fair price reduction

considering the vehicle’s miles

and history.

When considering buying a used

car, always remember caveat emptor (buyer beware)! ■
18 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999

BOB VAN ELSBERG

Managing Editor

Editor’s Note: Are you about to crack a cool one, then

head out on the road? If you think you can “handle it” and

still handle your car, then read on. Remember the terrible

tragedies at Littleton, Colorado, and Jonesboro, Arkansas?

They don’t match the carnage caused by one man 11 years

ago armed, not with a gun, but with a pickup truck and a

blood alcohol content (BAC) of .24. That night, Larry Mahoney killed 27 people—

the youngest being the

daughter of Lt Col Jim

and Karolyn Nunnallee—in the worst

drunk driving crash in

US history. And make no

mistake about it—what

happened that night was

no “accident.” As Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) President

Karolyn Nunnallee will

tell you, when you drive

drunk, what happens is

never just an “accident.”

The steady hum of

the tires rolling over the

highway helped lull to

sleep many of the 66

passengers in the back

of the bus. Not that

they didn’t have good

reason to be tired anyway, thought John

Pearman, the bus driver and one of four

chaperones who’d

spent the day shepherding the kids at

King’s Island amusement park in Ohio. He

drove the bus carefully

as they headed southward toward Radcliff,

Kentucky, and home.

He glanced at the road

sign for Carrollton,

then looked at his

watch. It was 5 minutes

before 11 p.m., and they

still had nearly 100

miles to go.

Listening to the hum

of the tires, 10-year-old

Patty Nunnallee

closed her eyes and

thought about the fun

she’d had that day and

how lucky she had been to be on the trip. Her best

friend, Robin, had invited her and was sitting next to her

in the second row of seats on the right side of the bus.

However, it had taken a call from Robin’s mother to convince Karolyn that the trip, sponsored by the Radcliff

Assembly of God Church, would be safe.

“I thought she’d be going in a private car,” Karolyn

said. “I originally said ‘no’—because private cars have

crashes, and I didn’t want her in a car. But Joy called and

said they would be going on a church bus. So I said,

Family photos courtesy Karolyn Nunnallee
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 19

continued on next page

‘What could be safer than that?’ and let her go. I knew

she was safe. She was with an adult supervisor who

loved her (Joy) and her best friend. They were going to

have a good day.”

Safety had always been important to the Nunnallees.

As an Air Force family, they’d been taught to wear their

seat belts both on- and off-base. Patty had been born in

Germany where the law required kids under the age of

12 to always ride in the backseat. Jim and Karolyn liked

that idea enough to make it a permanent family rule. Although she was young, Patty already knew to be responsible for herself and her own safety.

Unknown to the Nunnallees or to the bus passengers

headed southward into Kentucky, another driver would

be getting on the road that night. Larry Mahoney had

put in three back-to-back shifts at his job and had finally gotten off that day around noon. He didn’t have an

amusement park to go to, but he could make do with a

steady supply of beer and vodka and friends to drink

with.

The Nunnallees had also used alcohol, but always in

moderation. Living in Germany for part of Jim’s Air

Force career, they’d occasionally enjoyed a glass of beer

or wine with friends at social outings or over a meal.

However, Jim—a weapons system operator in F-4s and

later in F-111s—learned early in his career that misusing

alcohol could be a sure ticket out of the service. As a result, he and Karolyn had committed themselves to the

decision to never drink and drive. Too much was at

stake to throw away a career—and maybe lives—over a

few drinks.

Mahoney, however, hadn’t made the same decision.

He’d already had one DUI arrest and had been sent to a

4-hour drunk-driving class. However, that class would

not prove an effective deterrent this night.

As the bus passed Carrollton, Patty thought how

much fun she’d had that day. She thought about the stories she’d tell her 6-year-old sister Jeanne—who she

loved and spent a lot of time with. She thought about

her dad, who’d let her stay with Robin the night before

so the two friends could start the trip together. She also

thought about her mother, who had gone to Florida to

be with her own mother who was ill and in the hospital.

While Karolyn was gone, dad had been playing “Mr.

Mom”—taking care of Patty and Jeanne. However, as

10:54 p.m. ticked by, neither he nor Karolyn could know

that someone much less concerned about the safety of

others was on the road. Yet, Patty’s safety had been on

Karolyn’s mind that night.

“I called Jim late that night and asked him how things

The force of the head-on collision destroyed Larry Mahoney’s pickup truck. Although Mahoney survived, the impact ruptured the bus’s

fuel tank, causing a fire that killed Patty Nunnallee and 26 other passengers.

Photo by Bill Luster, © The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky
20 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999

were going,” Karolyn explained. “He said things were

going ‘fine’ and that the kids

were supposed to get in late

that night... Basically, it was

‘no cares in the world’—

everything was okay.”

But things weren’t “okay.”

After spending much of the

afternoon and evening drinking, even Mahoney’s friends

didn’t want him on the road

and took his keys away from

him. But like so many drunks,

Mahoney could argue persuasively.

“He said, ‘I’ll go straight

home,’ so they gave him his

keys back,” Karolyn said, reflecting on their testimony in

the police report that would

follow later. “However, they

knew when he turned out of

the driveway that he wasn’t

going home because he

turned the opposite direction.”

As Pearman guided the bus

down Interstate 71, he was

grateful it was divided by a

62-foot-wide median. At least

the oncoming headlights in

the northbound lanes were

offset to the left some, so he

wouldn’t have to stare directly into their glare. Now it was

a matter of just “keeping it

between the lines”—in the

left-hand lane—until he

could hit the 265 Loop and go

south around Louisville. It

was an easy enough drive so

long as he was careful.

Somewhere around 10:30,

Mahoney had left Carrollton

and headed south on Interstate 71. After driving south

for awhile, he changed his

mind and decided to head

back north again. With a BAC

of .24—more than twice the

legal limit—he was confused.

Whether he made a U-turn

thinking he was on a two-way road, or got off the interstate then took the wrong ramp to get back on, has never been answered. As he guided his pickup by what he

thought was the fog line on the right side of the road,

cars flashed their lights at him and semis blew their

horns. However, neither was enough to jolt him into

Lt. Col. Jim Nunnallee, his wife Karolyn, and their surviving

daughter Jeanne shortly after losing their daughter, Patty, in the

worst DUI crash in U.S. history. Two weeks after her daughter’s

death, Karolyn joined Mothers Against Drunk Driving to actively

combat one of America’s worst safety problems.
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 21

alertness. Car after car swerved out of the way to avoid

being hit head-on, but Mahoney was too drunk to realize that he was going the wrong way in the southbound

fast lane.

Pearman stared into the darkness ahead as he kept the

bus steady in its lane. He knew there were some bends

in the road that made oncoming cars look like they were

coming straight at him. But what was that up ahead?

Suddenly, he recognized that the headlights were in his

lane—filling the bus’s windshield as they came straight

at him!

Desperately turning the wheel to the left as fast as he

could and jamming on the brakes, he tried to swerve into

the median—but there just wasn’t enough time. Mahoney’s truck slammed into the bus’s right front bumper

and fender, tore away the right front wheel, then

smashed its way down the bus’s side, hitting a leaf spring

and puncturing the gas tank. The gas tank was located

near the front of the bus and just beneath Patty’s seat. 

Behind the wheel, John fought to keep the bus under

control as it skidded nearly 120 feet down the road. Inside the bus, the impact had slammed the passengers

The Deadly Facts

✔ Drunk driving is the nation’s most frequently committed violent crime.

✔ Approximately three out of every five

Americans will be affected by an alcoholrelated crash at some time during their

life.

✔ In 1997, 16,189 people were killed, and

more than a million others were injured in

crashes involving alcohol.

✔ In 1995, alcohol-related traffic deaths and

injuries cost society $114.5 billion, including lost quality of life.

✔ Since October 1992, more than 110 Air

Force members have died in alcohol-related POV mishaps. Nearly one-third of

those were passengers in a vehicle driven

by a drunk driver.

continued on next page

The head-on collision tore off the bus’s right front tire, jamming a leaf spring into the fuel tank and causing a fire that incinerated the bus

and killed 27 passengers.

Photo by Bill Luster, © The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky
22 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999

into the seats in front of them and tossed others into the

aisle. Inside the bus, many of the stunned children and

adults thought they’d hit a deer. As they sat wondering

what had happened, they heard a “wha-wumpf” and

saw an orange glow in the front of the bus. To their horror, moments later Chuck Kytta, the church’s youth director, stood up on the entry steps at the front of the bus.

He was engulfed in flames.

The fire, fed by the gasoline and fuel vapors gushing

from the ruptured fuel tank, began to rapidly spread

through the bus, turning the inside into an inferno.

With the right side of the bus smashed, the only way

out was the rear emergency exit. Kids and adults struggled to get out, climbing over seats or trying to make

their way down the center aisle—but only 40 made it.

There was too little time, too many people, and too

much fire and smoke. Seated near the front, Patty tried

her best to reach the back of the bus, but made it only a

few feet. Overcome by the heat and flames, she and 26

other victims burned to death. They never had a chance.

Happening so late in the evening and so far away

from home, it took time for the families in Radcliff to

find out about the crash. Finally, Jim got word and

called his father in Florida. Hours earlier, Karolyn’s

mother’s condition had improved, and things had

seemed to take a turn for the better there as the family

prepared to keep watch over her at the hospital. For the

first Sunday morning in years, Karolyn had been able to

enjoy going to church with her nieces and nephews.

When she arrived home, she saw her father-in-law’s car

in the driveway. She thought Jim’s parents were out for

a Sunday drive. But as she walked into the house...

“I remember seeing my father sitting there. I looked

into his face and immediately thought mother must

have died. From the look he had, I knew something was

wrong. Then my father-in-law stood up and said,

‘Karolyn, there has been an accident.’”

At first she thought it was Jim.

“As military wives, we’re prepared for our husbands

to die. But, in the next breath, he said, ‘Patty.’ I cried,

‘No—no—this can’t be happening!’”

Jim’s dad had watched CNN news reports about the

crash late Saturday night. However, until Jim’s call, he

had no idea that his granddaughter had been involved.

Now the still-sketchy information from the news reports—the fire at the crash and the fact many of the victims had been burned—gripped the entire family. Then

Jim called again—with a chilling request.

“He asked where Patty’s dental records were, so I

knew something was wrong,” she said. “I bartered with

God. I prayed, ‘Just let her be lost—just let her be in a

hospital somewhere with a little smudge mark on her

face.’”

Karolyn flew back to Kentucky to search for what she

hoped would be a missing—but still alive—daughter.

With the injured children having been taken to several

different hospitals, Karolyn searched for Patty’s name

among the living and held out hope.

“For three days after I got back they had a rolling list

of the victims on the television—but her name was always spelled wrong. I kept saying, ‘That’s not her because that’s not her right name.’ It took them three days

to identify all of the children. For those three days in my

mind it wasn’t going to be her...I just kept saying,

‘There’s been a mistake’...until they brought us all together and handed out the death certificates.”

The blow landed hard on Karolyn and Jim. Patty and

Karolyn had grown especially close together—become

“best friends,” as Karolyn put it—while Jim had served

a 1-year remote in Korea and later while he was gone for

Squadron Officer’s School. “She was not just a child to

me; she was pretty much wise beyond her years...we’d

had a wonderful relationship,” Karolyn explained.

Jim had seen death up close before. When his best

friend’s airplane went down, Jim served on the Safety

Investigation Board (SIB) to help find the cause and prevent it from happening again. But there was nothing he

could do after Patty’s death to bring sense out of what

had been a senseless tragedy.

Explaining to their 6-year-old daughter Jeanne—who,

like most little girls, lived in a fantasy world at that

time—that her sister had died was even harder, according to Karolyn.

“We painted what we thought was the right answer—

that her sister had died and was in a wonderful place,”

Karolyn explained. “We talked about heaven, which we

found out later was really the wrong way to tell her.

Sometimes, if you tell children that their best friend is in

a much better place, they want to go there. There is a

high suicide rate among these children.”

Meanwhile, the local community was pulling together

in the aftermath of this tragedy.

“There were memorial services,” Karolyn said. “We

have a book full of the names of people who came to the

house. Once the word got out, there were phone calls

from military families all over the world who called to

see how we were doing.”

The memory of Patty’s funeral was fresh in Karolyn’s

mind when she asked herself what her daughter would

have done were the situation reversed. She knew the answer wasn’t to become bitter but rather to try and make

things better. Two weeks later, she made a decision—she

joined MADD.

“I knew if I could get involved with MADD, I could

fight drunk driving for Patty so that her death would

not have been in vain,” Karolyn said.

Karolyn went to the local MADD chapter and was given a shoebox full of red ribbons and membership brochures. She explained, “I knew that as a victim I needed

to do something positive even while I was still grieving...I sent them all over the world to military friends

and families because I wanted to stop drunk driving. As

I look back on my 11-year history with MADD, I think of

that little box and how insignificant from the big scope

of things it really was. But it was what I needed at that

time, and I felt like I was doing something positive.”

She stuck with it. When the Air Force assigned Jim to

Cannon AFB, New Mexico, a state with one of the worst
DUI problems in the country,

she co-founded the MADD

Curry County Chapter. After

Jim’s retirement in 1992, they

moved to Florida where she

co-founded the MADD Polk

County Chapter. Becoming

President of MADD in 1998,

Karolyn fought for “Zero Tolerance”—a nation-wide law to

prevent underage drinkers

from getting on the road, and

she continues to fight for a national BAC level of .08 for

drunk driving.

But she never forgets 14

May 1988, or what one drunk

driver did to her family and to

an entire community. On

Karolyn’s desk at MADD’s

National Headquarters in Irving, Texas, is Patty’s picture, a

picture of a little girl who’d

planned to follow her father

into the Air Force, then serve

others through the country’s

legal system.

Had she lived and her

dream been fulfilled, Patty

might have been in her senior

year at the Air Force Academy.

And Karolyn believes that if

she could speak from beyond

that tragic night 11 years ago,

this is what she would say to

young airmen today:

“No one is invincible. The

laws in this country are there

for a reason. They’re there to

protect us, not to hinder us...

You have to realize that if you

choose to drink and drive, it’s

not like choosing not to wear

your seat belt. If you don’t

wear your seat belt, you endanger you, but if you drink and

drive, you endanger me. Would

you take a gun and walk down

Main Street and open fire?

Then think of a car as a 2,000-

pound deadly weapon—because that’s what it is when

you drink and drive.”

P.S. The author wishes to

thank Kentucky State Patrol

Officer Henry “Sonny”

Cease—who investigated this

tragic crash—for many of the

details used in this story. ■

ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 23

Help Is Available

MADD is the largest crime victim’s assistance organization in the world. Air

Force families who have been the victims of a drunk driver may call MADD’s hotline at 1-800-GET-MADD to reach trained staff or volunteers for immediate emotional support as well as guidance through the criminal justice system. MADD can

also provide a host of low-cost booklets designed to provide helpful information for

families and survivors in the aftermath of a drunk-driving accident. These booklets

are designed to help survivors and families deal with grief, find professional legal

help, help a relative or friend who drinks and drives, along with many other issues.

Air Force families desiring more information about MADD should contact their local MADD Chapter or visit the MADD web site at www.madd.org.

The Nunnallee family today, currently, Karolyn Nunnallee is the president of Mothers Against Drunk

Driving, America’s best-known anti-drunk driving organization.
24 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999

“Mark,don’t move.”Those were the

first words I heard after landing on

the ground. The next thing I knew, I

was hearing calls for 911, a fire extinguisher, and help. “What just

happened?” was my initial thought.

It was just another Sunday. Another instructor, John, and I had been

teaching a motorcycle safety class in

Napa, California. The weather had

started to get bad, and we had decided to call the class early for safety

reasons. As we started putting the

equipment away, the weather broke,

and the sun started shining. It

turned out to be a really nice day after all. We were looking forward to

the motorcycle ride home.

After we got everything put away,

we headed to our motorcycles and,

as always, took the time to put on

our safety gear. Now dressed and

ready for the ride, we headed back

for Travis AFB. Traffic was normally

heavy on Sunday afternoons on this

particular stretch of road, and this

afternoon was no different. Turning

from Highway 29 south to Highway

12 east, the road narrows to two

lanes and is considered one of the 10

most dangerous roads in the country. However, it’s the link between

Travis AFB and Napa, California.

The road was clear and the sun was

shining. I had just looked at my

clock, and it was 12:50 p.m. The

overall conditions, barring the traffic, could not have been better.

We were riding in a staggered pattern formation, with me in front and

John about two car lengths behind.

About 100 yards ahead of me, I noticed a car veering into oncoming

traffic. This is when instinct took

over. I slowed down and moved towards the shoulder of the road to

provide as much space cushion in

front as I could. Being a skilled rider,

John followed my lead. He couldn’t

see the car yet, but soon would. I

was sure the car would hit one of the

cars ahead of me in my lane. Suddenly the car shot back into his lane,

then his right-side tires left the roadway, and the car immediately shot

back into the left lane. The car was

SSGT MARK LYTAL

615 AMOS SCOA
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 25

obviously out of control at this point

and was coming right at me. We had

nowhere to go. Realizing this, the

only thing we could do was prepare

for the impact and anticipate the collision. I started to rise off the seat

and looked toward the shoulder,

knowing this was where I wanted to

land. John could see everything that

happened. The impact was so intense I had no idea what had happened to me.

Coming out of a haze I heard,

“Mark, don’t move...Call 911...Get a

fire extinguisher...Don’t remove his

helmet!!”

“John, is that you? Are you okay?”

I asked. John told me he had been

struck as well, but had only minor injuries. He also asked me where I hurt

and told me not to move. I asked that

he roll me over because I was face

down in the dirt. My helmet was still

intact and in place, as was the rest of

my protective gear. John informed

me that the ambulance was on the

way and not to move. From there I

was taken to David Grant Medical

Center at Travis AFB. John went with

the tow truck driver and later rode

with his wife to the hospital to be

checked out.

According to the police report, my

impact speed with the car was a

combined total of 110 mph while

John’s was slightly less. I was

thrown 70 feet into the air and over a

small tree while John was thrown directly onto the asphalt. The injuries

we incurred were minimal, all things

considered. Most of my injuries were

to my knees, while John’s amounted

to severe bruising. Those don’t take

into account the emotional aspects of

this type of accident.

Our first thoughts were “How

could this happen to us?” After all,

we were highly experienced motorcycle riders and instructors. Was

there anything different we could

have done to prevent this from happening? Then we realized we were

alive because of experience, training,

continuous practice, and, above all,

our diligence in wearing the proper

protective gear.

Every week we teach new motorcycle riders the importance of training,

practice, and protective gear. Every

day we both see riders in T-shirts,

shorts, and tennis shoes, etc. How

would we have fared in that kind of

gear?

When we had our accident, we

were wearing full-faced helmets,

full-fingered gloves, jackets (mine

was a Tourmaster CorduraTM, John’s

was made of leather), jeans, and

boots. To put it simply, we have a

rule: “No skin below the chin, and

always wear a helmet.”

Motorcycling is a great sport. Like

any sport, though, it takes proper

training, preparation, and protective

gear to get the most enjoyment and

success out of it. “Because the more

you know and the better you protect

yourself when you’re on the road,

the better motorcycling is.” ■

The location where the accident occurred on Highway 12 – one of America’s 10 most dangerous roads.

The 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit involved in the crash also suffered extensive damage.

Photos courtesy of the author
In Such a Big Hurry... uring 1982, I attended a semiprofessional wrestling match in Mississippi to watch a friend compete.

Things got out of hand, and in an

attempt to escape, I suffered a head

injury. A companion offered to take me to

the hospital for sutures.

My first mistake was allowing him to drive. In his anxiousness to get me to the hospital, he roared down the road at excessive

speeds.

Mistake No. 2 was not insisting he show

some prudence behind the wheel. He knew

26 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999

TSGT ROBERT BROTTEN

192d Fighter Wing (VA ANG)

Editor’s Note: Most of the articles people

send to me talk about one particularly memorable mishap. TSgt Brotten, however, sent

me a “triple-header,” any of which could

have been a Class A. His experiences offer

some thoughtful insights into off-duty personal safety.
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 27

of a hospital in

Memphis, Tennessee, and in his

hurry to get me

there, he ran a red

light.

Mistake No. 3

was my not insisting he stop for that

light. As we

crossed the intersection, we were

rammed in the

right front door.

The impact caused

the car to spin out

of control, flip,

then slide down

the road on its roof

for more than 150

feet before hitting

a curb and a light pole.

As a result, the car was totaled. The front

passenger’s seat was ripped from its

mounts, the windows were shattered, and

the fuel tank ruptured, soaking us both with

gasoline. The driver had been lucky. He’d

suffered only a few scratches, some small

cuts from the broken glass, and a sprained

ankle.

I wasn’t as fortunate. I’d suffered a severe

concussion, multiple lacerations from the

broken glass, a separated left shoulder, a

dislocated right knee, and a broken spine.

Not counting the time I spent hospitalized,

I was out of work and on minimal duty for

more than 6 months. Oh, did I mention that

neither of us was wearing our seat belts?

What that accident cost me was incalculable—and I wasn’t even driving!

It’s been 17 years since that accident. I

now have a family of my own—but I’m still

limited in my activity. I’m reminded of that

every time my son says to me, “Come on,

Dad, let’s wrestle,” and I can’t. I learned the

hard way that my health and safety are MY

responsibility!

Glad to Be Belted on New Years

n New Year’s Day 1994, my son and

I were going to visit a friend after

an unusually heavy snowstorm

had begun to clear up. Driving on

the familiar, snow-coated roads

mandated the use of caution. Instead of going the posted speed limit of 35 mph, I was

going only about 20 mph when we ran over

some black ice in a curve and slid off the

road and straight into a tree. The force of the

impact, even at just 20 mph, was incredible.

We hit the tree so

hard the windshield popped out.

Our vehicle, a fullsize sedan, was

mangled—there

was more than

$8,000 worth of

damage.

The good news

was that my son

and I walked away,

a little shaken to be

sure, but without

so much as a

bruise. We were

wearing our seat

belts during that

trip, just as always.

An accident may

not be the best way

to teach a child, but

now my son is always the first to “buckleup” and helps the rest of us remember!

In Less Than a Second

n an article on swimming pool safety

published in the summer 1996 issue of

Road & Rec it says, “In less than a second,

a child can...drown before anyone notices.” Those are true words.

My family owns a membership in private

campground on a beach on the Piankitank

River. This section of the river feeds directly into Chesapeake Bay and can have a swift

current. At the time, I was holding onto an

18-inch rope and “towing” my 2-year-old

son in a small raft along the shore in water

about 2 feet deep. My oldest son called to

get my attention, which caused me to

glance away from the raft for a split second.

When I turned back to the raft, all I saw was

the bottom of one foot descending into the

murky water. I lunged to grab him, but it

was too late. He was already gone.

I took two steps downstream frantically

feeling in the water for him. By a miracle,

my pinkie glanced across the toes of his

right foot. I squeezed for all I was worth and

jerked up with my hand. I hoisted my 20-

pound son by his little toe, and he WAS

NOT happy. As I held him upside down,

brown water drained from his nose and

mouth, and then he screamed. What a sweet

sound that was! Since this incident, we have

insisted on swimming lessons and personal

flotation devices. I was lucky that day. “In

less than a second”—I almost lost a son. ■

The impact caused the

car to spin out of control,

flip, then slide down the

road on its roof for more

than 150 feet before hitting

a curb and a light pole.

As a result, the car was

totaled. The front passenger’s seat was ripped from

its mounts, the windows

were shattered, and the

fuel tank ruptured, soaking

us both with gasoline.
28 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 ✰ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1999-573-322 / 43057

y husband Rick and I

have been riding a tandem

(bicycle-built-for-two) for

18 of our 26 married

years. Even though it takes much

more coordination and communication than riding two single bikes,

we’ve had a lot more fun than arguments, and our tandem is very special to both of us.

Having read in Bicycling magazine

that it was possible for the material in

older helmets to deteriorate and be

less effective in preventing injuries,

we decided in the spring of 1993 to

replace our approximately 15-yearold helmets with newer ones. At a

somewhat costly $90 each (there are

cheaper helmets available which

meet Snell standards), we bought

new helmets. Besides being lighter in

weight, they looked more stylish and

had an edging of colorful flags of

some of the countries that had participated in the 1993 Olympics. Now we

had matching helmets—most tandem riders like to wear outfits that

match.

The Eastern Tandem Rally was

held in Williamsburg, Virginia, the

last weekend of June 1993. Our plan

was to attend, spend some additional

time in Williamsburg, and travel a

few more days in the area before returning home. Volunteers hold these

rallies annually in a state in the eastern portion of the U.S. Similar rallies

are held in other parts of the country

at various times of the year. All of the

rallies encourage helmet use. Some

require them!

SHELLEY PULLIAM

Defense Logistics Information Service

Battle Creek, Michigan
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 29

The Sunday ride was to

Jamestown, but we never made it

there. We were about 10 miles out of

Williamsburg, riding with a group of

other tandems on a lovely two-lane

country road with almost no traffic.

The weather was perfect—sunny and

cool. We were wearing lightweight

matching (of course!) jackets.

A group of single bikes from a local

bicycle club passed us. We were a little ahead of the other tandems in our

casually formed group when we

started on a steep downhill. Rick believes we had reached a speed of 30

mph when the last single rider ahead

of us dropped a water bottle and

pulled over to the right side of the

road. Thinking he was going to stop

there, Rick steered our tandem toward the centerline to give the bicyclist plenty of room.

Evidently the man didn’t realize

there was another bike close behind

him, and he made a U-turn right in

front of us. There was no possible

way to avoid him, nor could we

brake in time—try stopping a tandem quickly on a downhill! What

happened next seemed to take several minutes rather than the actual 2 or

3 seconds—it was like slow motion. I

remember seeing the water bottle on

the road (it was red) and hearing Rick

say, “We’re going to hit!”

The next thing I was aware of, following some strange dreams, was lying on the ground with my feet still

in the clipless pedals. In a nice,

soothing voice, the “ambulance

man” was telling me I had had an accident. My first thought was,

“Where’s Rick? Is he all right?” Then

I heard my husband’s voice nearby

and was reassured.

After being disconnected from the

bike, I could wiggle my hands and

feet—everything moved all right. I

didn’t feel any particular pain, so I

knew I was okay. For some reason, I

couldn’t see. I suppose the concussion I suffered temporarily interfered

with my eyesight. The strange thing

was it seemed natural and not at all

alarming.

The paramedic asked me a series of

questions. “What is your name?”

“Where are you from?” “How old are

you?” I was able to answer all his

questions correctly until he asked if I

knew where I was. My answer?

“Massachusetts.” Well, the previous

evening we had spent time with

friends from the Boston area, so perhaps that was on my mind. At least I

knew I was somewhere in the east

with a lot of colonial things!

Both of us hit our heads (I was unconscious for perhaps 5 or 10 minutes). From the crushed areas on our

helmets, it appeared our heads struck

the pavement at least twice. I had a

harder impact due to the crack-thewhip effect from being on the back of

the bike, and later my neck hurt more

than my head. We both had a few

scrapes on our arms and legs, Rick

getting the worst of it. He told me he

thought his hand was broken, and it

turned out he was correct. The bone

below his right thumb was fractured,

and later that day he had surgery to

place a pin to hold it together.

The single bike had struck us near

the front of our tandem. The impact

knocked us over into the far side of

the other lane, and we landed on our

left side. Luckily, there was no oncoming traffic! By another coincidence, at the top of the hill we had

passed a fire station with a rescue

squad, so they were on the scene very

quickly. Also, the doctor on duty at

the hospital just happened to be an

orthopedic surgeon!

The single rider wasn’t hurt although his bike was damaged. Except for scraping off some handlebar

tape and getting some of his blue

paint on our dark green bike, our tandem was okay.

The company manufacturing our

helmets has a policy of replacing any

of their helmets that have “crashed”

for a very minimal cost of $15 each.

We sent ours in and received two new

helmets, unfortunately minus the little Olympic flags I liked so much. This

seems to me to be a very commendable way for a manufacturer to stand

behind their product, although I realize part of their rationale is to be able

to perform research on crashed helmets in order to improve them.

After the accident, we were really

glad we had replaced our old helmets

2 months previously. While I’m sure

the older helmets would have

helped—and any helmet is better

than no helmet—we both believe the

new ones did a superior job protecting us. It was probably the best $180

we had ever spent! Rick didn’t receive as severe a blow to his head as I

did, but if he hadn’t had the helmet, it

would have been much more serious.

I can’t state as fact that I would have

been killed without the helmet, although I’m sure it’s possible. However, without a doubt, I would have had

a much more severe head injury had

I not been wearing my helmet. Having even a mild concussion is no

fun—I can say that because I know.

We have worn helmets during our

20 years of biking, and now we make

doubly sure we have them whenever

we set out for a ride. We have always

supported helmet use, but now we

speak from personal experience. ■

Photo courtesy of the author
30 ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999

It’s Thursday night at the Health and Wellness Center (HAWC),

and the base intramural basketball tournament is in full swing. The security police are beating the civil engineers—again—and it’s late in

the game. But the CE’s shooting guard has been hot and hits a trey to

bring his team to within a point with 5 seconds to go. On the SP’s inbounds pass, a CE forward streaks out from the post to steal the ball,

then pivots on his right foot to face the basket. Everyone within 15 feet

hears a pop and watches him go down on the court. Within minutes,

his right knee is visibly swollen. he won’t be back tonight.

S

ince James Naismith nailed up the first peach basket in

1891, basketball has grown amazingly in popularity.

As the game has spread, so has the incidence of injuries. Air Force studies today indicate that a large portion

of off-duty recreational injuries occur on the basketball

court and involve the knee. The National Basketball Trainers Association notes that in basketball, knee injuries are

second only to ankle injuries in acute injuries. However,

they account for the most missed practices and games.

Clearly, basketball is both popular and tough on knees, and

any measures that can help prevent injuries are welcome.

Knee injuries can be grouped into two broad categories.

Overuse injuries occur with continued abuse of the knee.

Small, repeated stresses eventually overcome the body’s

ability to heal itself, resulting in injury. An example is

patellofemoral pain, or “runner’s knee.”

On the other hand, acute injury happens when one large

force causes failure of some part of the knee. The well-known

torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) illustrates this group.

The first category, overuse, tends to be more common in

basketball. The most frequent knee problem in basketball is

called patellofemoral pain, or PFP. This is actually a broad

group of problems leading to pain between the patella, or

kneecap, and femur, or thighbone. It also goes by many other names, including retropatellar pain syndrome (since the

pain comes from the back of the kneecap) and patellofemoral arthralgia.

This pain is felt in the front of the knee. It tends to get

worse with activities such as running and going up and

down stairs. It comes on slowly and gradually worsens if

nothing is done to treat it. Sometimes it is accompanied by

swelling in the front of the knee.

Many different things can lead to PFP. Some are extrinsic

to the knee, which means they are not part of the knee itself.

First and foremost is doing too much too fast. Often the athlete has had an extended period of time away from exercise.

He or she then tries to just jump right in at the same level as

a month or more earlier, not thinking about the losses in endurance, strength, and flexibility that come on quickly

when they do not keep in shape. The muscles, tendons, and

ligaments are no longer adapted to extended exercise, and

injuries result. This can be avoided by either building up activity gradually or, preferably, staying in good condition.

Other causes are intrinsic, or part of the knee itself and surrounding structures. Poor flexibility is among the most important intrinsic causes of knee pain. Tight hamstrings (the

muscles in back of the thigh that bend the knee and move the

leg backward at the hip) have been shown to lead to many

problems of the leg, most notably patellofemoral pain. Closely related is weakness of the quadriceps (the muscles in front

of the thigh that straighten the knee and move the leg forward at the hip). Many runners, for example, have strong,

tight hamstrings and do not develop their quadriceps. Good

training habits, including balanced strength training and

stretching, can prevent these two from becoming a problem.

CAPT (DR.) ERIC M. CHUMBLEY, MC

59TH AMDS

Lackland AFB, Texas
ROAD & REC ● FALL 1999 31

Some intrinsic factors are more difficult to correct. The

back of the kneecap articulates, or fits together, with the

far end of the thighbone. The back of the kneecap is

wedge-shaped and must fit smoothly into the groove at

the far end of the thighbone as the kneecap moves up

and down during motion of the knee. If the alignment is

off for some reason, PFP can result. Women in general

have more alignment problems since they have broader

hips. This increases what is called the quadriceps angle,

or makes them look more “knock-kneed” than men.

Some people have kneecaps that can move side-to-side

too much and some have kneecaps that do not move

enough. Surgery is often needed to correct alignment

problems in competitive athletes.

Many athletes have problems below the knee that can lead

to PFP. Overpronation is a correctable condition that can be

identified by an athletic trainer or other sports medicine professional. Basically, the foot is too flexible while walking and

running, and several overuse problems of the leg, foot, and

ankle can result. It can be improved with orthotics (shoe inserts) or simply buying the right kind of shoes. A knowledgeable athletic shoe salesperson or sports medicine professional can give advice about appropriate footwear.

Knee sprains and meniscal tears are the next most common causes of basketball-related knee injuries. A sprain is

an injury to a ligament, the kind of tissue that holds bones

together at a joint. Sprains to the medial collateral ligament

(MCL) are most common, followed by the ACL. MCL injuries can be either contact or non-contact, as the knee is abnormally bent inward, toward the other leg. These injuries

do not usually need surgery, but can keep the athlete out of

the game for some time while they heal. ACL injuries are

very frequently non-contact, as the player usually plants

the foot of the affected leg and pivots. Often, a pop is noted

in the knee at the time of the injury, accompanied by a feeling of instability. Within a few hours, the knee usually

swells noticeably. In fact, the majority of people who get

large swelling right away after an acute knee injury (what

doctors call an acute hemarthrosis, or blood in the joint)

have a torn ACL. Like the civil engineering forward above.

In many people, surgery is the treatment of choice.

A meniscus is one of a pair of special shock absorbers in

each knee joint between the thigh bone and tibia, or shin

bone. Meniscal tears often happen much the same way as

ACL sprains, but the swelling usually comes on a bit more

slowly. Unfortunately, these injuries often occur together. If

the tear is large, the knee may lock or become impossible to

fully straighten. Locked knees need to have surgery. Otherwise, some small tears heal by themselves, some are surgically repaired, and some are surgically removed.

How can active duty members keep themselves on the

court and out of this alphabet soup? For both overuse

and acute injuries, the better the overall condition of the

player, the less likely they are to suffer an injury. This

means aerobic, strength, and flexibility training. An

overall program of regular conditioning that emphasizes all three aspects is the best defense. Of course, all

three forms of training can result in injury if they are

done incorrectly. Any new activity should be done initially at a low level, with a gradual buildup.

Played regularly and intensely, full-court basketball offers a fine means of aerobic conditioning. For those who

prefer their basketball on the half court or at a leisurely

pace, another form of aerobic training is needed. To achieve

some degree of fitness, the American College of Sports

Medicine recommends keeping the heart rate in a training

range for at least 20 to 60 minutes, three to five times a

week. Asimple gauge of intensity is breathing. If it becomes

a little difficult to speak during exercise, the pace is adequate. What form of exercise does this best? Anything that

the athlete enjoys and will continue to do.

Explosive power is an important part of the game, and a

quick look at an NBA game indicates that these men spend

time in the weight room. Fortunately, 20-inch biceps are not

necessary to play pickup basketball. But whole-body

strength training done 2 to 4 days a week can go a long way

toward reducing injury, not to mention owning the paint.

Such a program should include both upper and lower body

training, being careful to work antagonistic muscle groups

(both the “push” and the “pull” movements of the joint)

equally. Machines are usually easier to work with, especially for beginners, while free weights offer greater gains in

strength. They also require more training to use safely and

effectively, as well as a partner. Atrip to the local HAWC for

consultation with one of the experts there will put interested athletes on the right track to correct strength training.

The last leg of conditioning for injury prevention is flexibility. As mentioned earlier, tight hamstrings are big players

in overuse knee injuries, but tight quadriceps and calf muscles can lead to problems as well. Unfortunately, flexibility

training does not receive much emphasis in the media or

from peers. When was the last time anyone heard, “Wow,

you have really limber legs”? On the other hand, speed,

strength, massive muscles, and endurance tend to be glorified. When all else is equal, though, flexibility can make the

difference in performance and in avoiding injury.

Like endurance and strength training, flexibility training must be approached systematically. Four key points

deserve mention. First, stretching is most effective and

least likely to actually cause injury when performed on

warm muscles. Enough light exercise to break a sweat is

plenty to prepare the muscles for stretching. Second, it

should be done on a regular basis—at least whenever endurance or strength training is done. Third, all muscle

groups should receive equal attention. Fourth, stretching

has to be progressive. This means that the athlete strives

to improve, not just hold the stretch at the same length

every time. Again, the HAWC can be a great starting

point to get on the road to increased flexibility.

Finally, a word about preventing those acute injuries. Cool

it on the court. Play under control. Nobody reading this article has a multimillion dollar contract to play basketball or

has to worry about going one-on-one with David Robinson.

But everybody reading this article has a responsibility to do

his or her job day in and day out and may someday have to

go toe-to-toe with an enemy in the desert, the jungle, or the

forest. Wearing the uniform means maintaining readiness,

and irresponsible play just doesn’t make sense. ■