Grant to reward student drivers

The agenda was short and sweet at the Lyon County Board meeting on Tuesday, with the approval of a $750 AAA Traffic Safety Grant to reward high school drivers who are found to be wearing their seatbelts when they arrive at school.
An application was submitted to request funds to purchase stencils to paint “buckle up” reminders at the exit of school parking lots of local schools, and Lyon County Sheriff Eric Wallen mentioned that some sort of reward system will be put in place for students who wear seatbelts.
Tracy, Marshall, Minneota, and Cottonwood will be the participating schools involved with the Traffic Safety mission.
Wearing a seatbelt is a habit for many people, but it’s been proven that little reminders help those who are forgetful - especially new drivers in high school who haven’t yet made buckling up a ritual once they get behind the wheel.
Reminders can include visual signals like a light that blinks on a driver’s dashboard, an audio signal, or road signs. It has been proven that seatbelt reminders increase seat belt usage by 3.9%, according to a 2019 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; 90.7% of people in the United States consistently wear a seatbelt. Also, seatbelt use in 2017 saved 14,955 lives, according to the NHTSA.
Even if the AAA Traffic Safety Grant can save one life in Lyon County schools, it’s worth it.

In other news, the board:
•Approved the renewal of one-year solid waste services joint power agreement for Lyon County Environmental Department with a compensation of $41.50 per hour.
• Accepted the work of Central Specialties Inc with a final payment of $312,676.57.
• Approved the hire of Riley Williams as General Equipment Operator at a pay grade seven with a starting wage of $20.01 per hour with a start date on or around Dec. 15.