August 20, 2025 • 13 mins
Sgt. Mike Smith of the Mansfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, and Ryan Swank, a Motor Vehicle Inspector with the Patrol, spent time on WMAN to talk about back to school safety and school bus Inspection. Many schools across the area are headed back to the classroom this week.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, we are privileged this morning. We got a
couple of guests in studio. It is hard to believe
we are past the middle of August and it is
back to school time already, and we are going to
visit with the Ohio State Highway Patrol Sergeant Mike Smith
from the Mansfield Post. He's in. He's brought a guest.
We'll get to his guest in just a moment. First
(00:20):
of all, Sergeant Smith, thanks so much for giving us
some time. I'm sure you have to be like, where
did summer go?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Right, that's right, it was like a blur.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Thanks for coming in though, do appreciate it to here
this morning. All right, So we're going to talk about
kids going back to school. You've brought against him. We'll
get to Ryan Swank in a moment. But he is
a motor vehicle inspector, and he's one of many across
the state. I know you told me he works in
district too, But they inspect school buses. I guess throughout
the course of the year, right.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
That's correct. A lot of times as a state trooper
I look at the safety of a school bus from
the outside in where he actually looks at the safety
of the school bus from the inside out.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
And when we talk about this, you're going to share
some stats and he will as well. But they do
this a couple of times a year in terms of
inspecting the school buses statewide.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
That's right. I believe that every school bus needs at
least two inspections a year. They do their best to do,
like on the spot, kind of a surprise inspections. It's
a hard job and I give you my hat goes
off to them, give them credit for what the job
they do.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, we're going to get details from him at a moment.
I know you have some stats you want to share
as kids are heading back to the school and it's
funny there are some districts across the state who are
already back in school, so that time of the year
has got here in a hurry. Sergeant Mike Smith again
is in front of the microphone. He is with the
Mansfield post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. And you
(01:39):
are telling me you have a stat what in the
last what five years or so in terms of the
number of crashes statewide that have involved a school bus.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, so since twenty twenty, a total of six thousand
two hundred and twenty five crashes involving a school bus
have been reported in Ohio, and five of those include
a fatality. And I mean, there's nothing more tragic than
losing a school student. You know, these buses, you know,
they're built for safety, They're built as safe as they
can be. But as you can see, in the last
five years, we've still had over six thousand crashes involving
(02:10):
school buses.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
And you actually had a stat that you found in
terms of the number of crashes here in Richland County
over the last five years, right involving a school bus.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, so the same time period over the last five years,
we've had fifty seven school bus related crashes in Richland County.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I thought it would be important for you to remind
drivers because we always do this when it comes to
winter about Hey, remember you know you have to slow down,
you can't go as fast. You might be a little slippery,
so you got to use some extra caution. Well, you
know we do that before winter, but when we get
ready to go back to school, it's been several months
where drivers have not sawd a bus on the road.
So remind them how far back they got to stop
(02:46):
In terms of you see that arm come out with
the stop sign. Can you give some reminders for drivers.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, there's there's nothing worse than running late for work.
And then all of a sudden you look up and
you see this big yellow bus taking its time, And
the reason why it's taking its time is because they
want to make sure the kids are safe. But when
a school bus is stopped with its red lights flashing
and stop arm extended, all vehicles traveling in both directions
must come to a complete stop at least ten feet
from the bus. Now, this applies to two lane roads
(03:12):
and roads with the center turning lane. You want to
reduce your stopping distance because the faster you go, the
longer it takes to bring your vehicle to a stop. Now,
on roads with four or more lanes divided highways, only
traffic traveling in the same direction as the bus is
required to stop. Oncoming traffic may proceed with caution.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Very important safety reminders from the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Sergeant Mike Smith of the Mansfield Post is with us
in studio and he has brought a guest. So we're
going to slide the microphone now to Ryan Swank Motor
vehicle inspector in District two. Ryan, thank you so much
for taking time. Good morning, Good morning. So you are
(03:52):
a motor vehicle inspector. How long have you been doing this?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
About ten years?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
How big is District two?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
So we cover from the south end of Marion County
clear up to the Lake Wyandot County Sandusky County. We
cover eleven counties.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Okay, so that's a pretty big region. So let's go
through in terms of you inspect school buses. Walk us
through that. I mean, how long does it take and
what all are you looking for here?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Ryan?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
So usually inspection takes about fifteen to twenty minutes. We're
checking breaks, lights, cleanliness of the bus. We're looking for
holes in seats, making sure emergency exits open, clothes. There's
certain things that when the emergency exits are open, they're
supposed to be a buzzer and lights come on. If
those don't come on, that's an issue. We're also making
(04:40):
sure that heaters work, win chill wipers, the bright lights.
There's a lot into it. A lot of people would
think that it would take a lot longer, but once
we get a pattern down, we can usually have them
done in fifteen to twenty minutes.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
And roughly how many of these like you. Let's say
a given day for Ryan Swank, he's out somewhere in
district to how many roughly school buses are you inspecting?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Usually on average where we try to do ten. Sometimes
it's more. Sometimes it's less.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Little driving in between obviously the school districts and things
like that. You check windows too, I would assume, right, yes, yep.
Now in terms of this, I could picture maybe you
have a clipboard you're going through things, so do you
have like like the bus mechanic from that school there
will walk us through how that works.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
So basically the bus mechanic usually ends up helping us.
So they'll help us run lights, they'll place the bus
and reverse those kind of things. And then whenever we
find something wrong, most of the time they'll get out
take care of it right then and there, and then
get back in. They'll help us check breaks, whatever the
bus mechanic needs to do. We're pretty lucky in our district.
(05:47):
All of our mechanics are great, great to work with.
It makes our job a lot easier.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, I know you have a very busy day and
I want to get a few more questions. While we
have Ryan Swank with us this morning. He is a
motor vehicle inspector, told me doing this about ten years right,
you said, right? Did you you know high school and
all that? Did you know this was the line of
work you go into. Did you enjoy vehicles? You know, mechanic,
different things? What kind of got you into this field?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
So I came from the fire and ems side of life.
It was time for a change, so apply to the state.
And here I am.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
All right, and I know you're very, very busy because
I was going through some of the numbers that Sergeant
Mike Smith had shared with us. Again, you just heard
the voice there again of Ryan Swank, motor and vehicle inspector,
and also with him and he actually brought him in
this morning, did Sergeant Mike Smith of the Mansfield post
of the Highway Patrol. He was telling me that you
do this a couple of times a year in terms
(06:39):
of inspecting a school bus, walk us through kind of
timeline a certain school district, whether it's Mansfield, somebody locally here.
How often you do that.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Every bus gets two inspections a year, they get their
annual inspection and we do those from January first to
would try to be done around July first, and then
from July first to the end of the year we
do what we call a spot inspection. It's not as
detailed as a annual, but we're pretty much checking everything again.
(07:08):
So basically, you know, in theory people look at it
as every bus gets two annual inspections, but only one
of them gets a new set of stickers whenever we
do the first the first time.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Well, and he was sharing the numbers. What since twenty twenty,
so about the last five years, the patrol performing nearly
one hundred and ninety five thousand school bus inspections, and
I think about that state wide. You know, I don't
know how many school districts there are you off the
top of my head. I won't ask you because that
will be a big number, but that that's a lot
of inspections. So you guys, you really do have this down.
(07:40):
You mentioned you guys are going, you know, different school districts.
But that really has to keep your office busy, right
it does. Yes, Now let me ask you before I
let you go. Ryan Swank again, motor vehicle inspector, I
probably have heard this. I don't want to venture a guest,
maybe you can how long does the average school bus
last in terms of uh, you know, how long? I
think I used to hear something ten, twelve, thirteen years.
(08:02):
I don't know if I'm in the ballparker, No, I
thought I heard that at one time. How long roughly
does the school bus last?
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Usually about twelve to fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
And pretty expensive too. I've seen the price tag on
some of those. Yes, so they definitely want to get
their use out of them. And that's where you guys
coming right with the inspections. Right, all right, anything I've
missed with you, we appreciate you coming in this morning
that the average person wouldn't realize in terms of inspection
of a school bus. I know you've went through windshield
wipers and things like that. Anything that we missed this morning,
(08:30):
I don't believe. So all right, well, I appreciate I
appreciate you coming in. Ryan, Thank you so much again.
Ryan Swank with US Motor Vehicle Inspector. We're going to
slide the microphone back to Sergeant Mike Smith again Mansfield
Posts of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Mike for
you guys with school buses back on the road. Kids
going back to school. That's just something else you guys
are looking out for, right that way, people are following
(08:51):
the laws with school buses.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
That's right. A school bus violation is actually one of
the violations that we can issue a citation for and
not actually see the violation. There's a provision in the
Ohio Revised Code where a school bus driver can report
a violation to us, and then we would go investigate
that violation and if we find through the totality of
circumstances that there was a violation that took place, we
(09:15):
can issue a citation to that driver. Now, of course,
the school bus driver would then be required to appear
in court and testify to what they saw and what
they did, like we would normally. But yeah, that is
a part of being back in school, is the school
bus complaints, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
You know, and you brought that up, and I would
think something would be a school bus driver see somebody
not stop when that arms out, the red lights are
flashing and you have to stay back at least ten
feet you mentioned, that would be something probably one of
many things they could report to the patrol.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Right, that's right, And we get school bus complaints throughout
the school year. Those bus drivers they care about the
safety of those kids, and that's the reason why they're
so diligent about that. And we take school bus safety
very seriously because those kids that you know, they're putting
their trust into the school buses, into their school systems,
and we want to be there to make sure that
they can trust those vehicles as a safe way to
(10:05):
get back and forth to school.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Well, I got a couple more quick questions before I
let you guys go again. Sergeant Mike Smith. He is
locally from the Mansfield post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Last time you and I talked, think it was just
before July fourth, and we have Labor Day approaching it
in just a couple of weeks. Hard to believe, you, you
blink in Summer is just flown by, you know, kids
going back to school. I remember around July fourth the
(10:28):
Patrol put out a report. They had quite a few
citations around the July fourth holiday, people, you know, not
buckling up wearing their seat belt. What are you guys
seeing right now? You always tell me about distracted driving.
What are you guys seeing right now?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
A seat belt usage of distracted driving? Are still on
our radar. There's still really big issues that we're trying
to enforce. I know, with Labor Day it's like the
one last hourah of the summer, so everyone's trying to
squeeze in one more vacation. And the best advice I
can give you is just slow down and enjoy your time.
You know, don't try to push the envelope, don't try
to rush, Just enjoy the time you have and be
(11:04):
careful out there on the roadway.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, I know one of the things I've brought up
to you many times, and you know, I was on
vacation and recently, you know, just driving around town, I
just seem to see more people not using turn signals
and things like that. Are you guys seeing that as well?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Out on the roads there is an element of complacency
there where people just kind of get comfortable driving and
they develop little bad habits, and those little bad habits
can lead to bigger bad habits, and those bigger bad
habits lead to traffic crashes. So, yeah, you want to
make sure you're you're careful with the small things and
the big things when you're taking a trip on the
highway and when you're driving back and forth to work
(11:36):
every day.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, I always think about, you know, back when I
was taking you know, drivers' education and you know it
actually took it. I think it was at the high school.
You know, it was offer when I was going to school,
and I remember, you know, somebody on a hundred feet
or whatever, put that blinker on before you're going to
turn or whatever it is. I think for a lot
of people you want to let them know that, hey,
up here, I'm going to turn before you just put
on your brake and turn, because that could lead to
(11:58):
an accident.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Well, they could lead to an act accident. It also
lead to a road rage scenario where you cut somebody
off and they take it personally and you have no
idea what that person is going through, what they're thinking.
You know, if they feel as though they've been threatened somehow,
they might take that personally. So unfortunately, we've seen some
road rage incidents on I seventy one that have led
to some criminal charges, and we take that stuff very seriously,
(12:22):
and so everyone should kind of be on the lookout
for that as well.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Good important information this morning before I let you go.
Mike Smith, Mansfield Highway Patrol sergeant. You and I last
time were in you talked about if people were interested
in becoming a trooper they could they could stop down
and do a ride along. You've been seeing an increase
in that, correct.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, the ride along program has kind of taken off
a little bit more recently. And basically, if you have
an interest in law enforcement, come down and talk to me,
and I'll get the kind of a feel for you,
what your intentions are, what your career path might be,
and we can try and put you into a vehicle
with a trooper or another position. I mean, that's one
of the benefits of the State Highway Patrols that we're
(13:03):
not just law enforcement officers. We also have motor vehicle inspectors,
we have electronic technicians, we have dispatchers. We have a
whole field of employment to offer. And if you're interested
in any one of those facets of the career, come
on down and talk to us. We'd love to hear
from you.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
All right, makes you a stap down Man's Field Post
of the Ohio State Highway Patrol again with us in studio.
You heard from him a little while ago, Ryan Swank,
motor vehicle inspector. We thank him for coming in. Sergeant
Mike smith Man's Field Post of the Highway Patrol. We
appreciate your time this morning. Thank you for being here.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Thank you. Eron
All right, we are privileged this morning. We got a
couple of guests in studio. It is hard to believe
we are past the middle of August and it is
back to school time already, and we are going to
visit with the Ohio State Highway Patrol Sergeant Mike Smith
from the Mansfield Post. He's in. He's brought a guest.
We'll get to his guest in just a moment. First
(00:20):
of all, Sergeant Smith, thanks so much for giving us
some time. I'm sure you have to be like, where
did summer go?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Right, that's right, it was like a blur.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Thanks for coming in though, do appreciate it to here
this morning. All right, So we're going to talk about
kids going back to school. You've brought against him. We'll
get to Ryan Swank in a moment. But he is
a motor vehicle inspector, and he's one of many across
the state. I know you told me he works in
district too, But they inspect school buses. I guess throughout
the course of the year, right.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
That's correct. A lot of times as a state trooper
I look at the safety of a school bus from
the outside in where he actually looks at the safety
of the school bus from the inside out.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
And when we talk about this, you're going to share
some stats and he will as well. But they do
this a couple of times a year in terms of
inspecting the school buses statewide.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
That's right. I believe that every school bus needs at
least two inspections a year. They do their best to do,
like on the spot, kind of a surprise inspections. It's
a hard job and I give you my hat goes
off to them, give them credit for what the job
they do.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yeah, we're going to get details from him at a moment.
I know you have some stats you want to share
as kids are heading back to the school and it's
funny there are some districts across the state who are
already back in school, so that time of the year
has got here in a hurry. Sergeant Mike Smith again
is in front of the microphone. He is with the
Mansfield post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. And you
(01:39):
are telling me you have a stat what in the
last what five years or so in terms of the
number of crashes statewide that have involved a school bus.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, so since twenty twenty, a total of six thousand
two hundred and twenty five crashes involving a school bus
have been reported in Ohio, and five of those include
a fatality. And I mean, there's nothing more tragic than
losing a school student. You know, these buses, you know,
they're built for safety, They're built as safe as they
can be. But as you can see, in the last
five years, we've still had over six thousand crashes involving
(02:10):
school buses.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
And you actually had a stat that you found in
terms of the number of crashes here in Richland County
over the last five years, right involving a school bus.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yeah, so the same time period over the last five years,
we've had fifty seven school bus related crashes in Richland County.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I thought it would be important for you to remind
drivers because we always do this when it comes to
winter about Hey, remember you know you have to slow down,
you can't go as fast. You might be a little slippery,
so you got to use some extra caution. Well, you
know we do that before winter, but when we get
ready to go back to school, it's been several months
where drivers have not sawd a bus on the road.
So remind them how far back they got to stop
(02:46):
In terms of you see that arm come out with
the stop sign. Can you give some reminders for drivers.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, there's there's nothing worse than running late for work.
And then all of a sudden you look up and
you see this big yellow bus taking its time, And
the reason why it's taking its time is because they
want to make sure the kids are safe. But when
a school bus is stopped with its red lights flashing
and stop arm extended, all vehicles traveling in both directions
must come to a complete stop at least ten feet
from the bus. Now, this applies to two lane roads
(03:12):
and roads with the center turning lane. You want to
reduce your stopping distance because the faster you go, the
longer it takes to bring your vehicle to a stop. Now,
on roads with four or more lanes divided highways, only
traffic traveling in the same direction as the bus is
required to stop. Oncoming traffic may proceed with caution.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Very important safety reminders from the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Sergeant Mike Smith of the Mansfield Post is with us
in studio and he has brought a guest. So we're
going to slide the microphone now to Ryan Swank Motor
vehicle inspector in District two. Ryan, thank you so much
for taking time. Good morning, Good morning. So you are
(03:52):
a motor vehicle inspector. How long have you been doing this?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
About ten years?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
How big is District two?
Speaker 3 (03:58):
So we cover from the south end of Marion County
clear up to the Lake Wyandot County Sandusky County. We
cover eleven counties.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Okay, so that's a pretty big region. So let's go
through in terms of you inspect school buses. Walk us
through that. I mean, how long does it take and
what all are you looking for here?
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Ryan?
Speaker 3 (04:20):
So usually inspection takes about fifteen to twenty minutes. We're
checking breaks, lights, cleanliness of the bus. We're looking for
holes in seats, making sure emergency exits open, clothes. There's
certain things that when the emergency exits are open, they're
supposed to be a buzzer and lights come on. If
those don't come on, that's an issue. We're also making
(04:40):
sure that heaters work, win chill wipers, the bright lights.
There's a lot into it. A lot of people would
think that it would take a lot longer, but once
we get a pattern down, we can usually have them
done in fifteen to twenty minutes.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
And roughly how many of these like you. Let's say
a given day for Ryan Swank, he's out somewhere in
district to how many roughly school buses are you inspecting?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Usually on average where we try to do ten. Sometimes
it's more. Sometimes it's less.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Little driving in between obviously the school districts and things
like that. You check windows too, I would assume, right, yes, yep.
Now in terms of this, I could picture maybe you
have a clipboard you're going through things, so do you
have like like the bus mechanic from that school there
will walk us through how that works.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
So basically the bus mechanic usually ends up helping us.
So they'll help us run lights, they'll place the bus
and reverse those kind of things. And then whenever we
find something wrong, most of the time they'll get out
take care of it right then and there, and then
get back in. They'll help us check breaks, whatever the
bus mechanic needs to do. We're pretty lucky in our district.
(05:47):
All of our mechanics are great, great to work with.
It makes our job a lot easier.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, I know you have a very busy day and
I want to get a few more questions. While we
have Ryan Swank with us this morning. He is a
motor vehicle inspector, told me doing this about ten years right,
you said, right? Did you you know high school and
all that? Did you know this was the line of
work you go into. Did you enjoy vehicles? You know, mechanic,
different things? What kind of got you into this field?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
So I came from the fire and ems side of life.
It was time for a change, so apply to the state.
And here I am.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
All right, and I know you're very, very busy because
I was going through some of the numbers that Sergeant
Mike Smith had shared with us. Again, you just heard
the voice there again of Ryan Swank, motor and vehicle inspector,
and also with him and he actually brought him in
this morning, did Sergeant Mike Smith of the Mansfield post
of the Highway Patrol. He was telling me that you
do this a couple of times a year in terms
(06:39):
of inspecting a school bus, walk us through kind of
timeline a certain school district, whether it's Mansfield, somebody locally here.
How often you do that.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Every bus gets two inspections a year, they get their
annual inspection and we do those from January first to
would try to be done around July first, and then
from July first to the end of the year we
do what we call a spot inspection. It's not as
detailed as a annual, but we're pretty much checking everything again.
(07:08):
So basically, you know, in theory people look at it
as every bus gets two annual inspections, but only one
of them gets a new set of stickers whenever we
do the first the first time.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Well, and he was sharing the numbers. What since twenty twenty,
so about the last five years, the patrol performing nearly
one hundred and ninety five thousand school bus inspections, and
I think about that state wide. You know, I don't
know how many school districts there are you off the
top of my head. I won't ask you because that
will be a big number, but that that's a lot
of inspections. So you guys, you really do have this down.
(07:40):
You mentioned you guys are going, you know, different school districts.
But that really has to keep your office busy, right
it does. Yes, Now let me ask you before I
let you go. Ryan Swank again, motor vehicle inspector, I
probably have heard this. I don't want to venture a guest,
maybe you can how long does the average school bus
last in terms of uh, you know, how long? I
think I used to hear something ten, twelve, thirteen years.
(08:02):
I don't know if I'm in the ballparker, No, I
thought I heard that at one time. How long roughly
does the school bus last?
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Usually about twelve to fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
And pretty expensive too. I've seen the price tag on
some of those. Yes, so they definitely want to get
their use out of them. And that's where you guys
coming right with the inspections. Right, all right, anything I've
missed with you, we appreciate you coming in this morning
that the average person wouldn't realize in terms of inspection
of a school bus. I know you've went through windshield
wipers and things like that. Anything that we missed this morning,
(08:30):
I don't believe. So all right, well, I appreciate I
appreciate you coming in. Ryan, Thank you so much again.
Ryan Swank with US Motor Vehicle Inspector. We're going to
slide the microphone back to Sergeant Mike Smith again Mansfield
Posts of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Mike for
you guys with school buses back on the road. Kids
going back to school. That's just something else you guys
are looking out for, right that way, people are following
(08:51):
the laws with school buses.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
That's right. A school bus violation is actually one of
the violations that we can issue a citation for and
not actually see the violation. There's a provision in the
Ohio Revised Code where a school bus driver can report
a violation to us, and then we would go investigate
that violation and if we find through the totality of
circumstances that there was a violation that took place, we
(09:15):
can issue a citation to that driver. Now, of course,
the school bus driver would then be required to appear
in court and testify to what they saw and what
they did, like we would normally. But yeah, that is
a part of being back in school, is the school
bus complaints, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
You know, and you brought that up, and I would
think something would be a school bus driver see somebody
not stop when that arms out, the red lights are
flashing and you have to stay back at least ten
feet you mentioned, that would be something probably one of
many things they could report to the patrol.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Right, that's right, And we get school bus complaints throughout
the school year. Those bus drivers they care about the
safety of those kids, and that's the reason why they're
so diligent about that. And we take school bus safety
very seriously because those kids that you know, they're putting
their trust into the school buses, into their school systems,
and we want to be there to make sure that
they can trust those vehicles as a safe way to
(10:05):
get back and forth to school.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Well, I got a couple more quick questions before I
let you guys go again. Sergeant Mike Smith. He is
locally from the Mansfield post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Last time you and I talked, think it was just
before July fourth, and we have Labor Day approaching it
in just a couple of weeks. Hard to believe, you, you
blink in Summer is just flown by, you know, kids
going back to school. I remember around July fourth the
(10:28):
Patrol put out a report. They had quite a few
citations around the July fourth holiday, people, you know, not
buckling up wearing their seat belt. What are you guys
seeing right now? You always tell me about distracted driving.
What are you guys seeing right now?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
A seat belt usage of distracted driving? Are still on
our radar. There's still really big issues that we're trying
to enforce. I know, with Labor Day it's like the
one last hourah of the summer, so everyone's trying to
squeeze in one more vacation. And the best advice I
can give you is just slow down and enjoy your time.
You know, don't try to push the envelope, don't try
to rush, Just enjoy the time you have and be
(11:04):
careful out there on the roadway.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, I know one of the things I've brought up
to you many times, and you know, I was on
vacation and recently, you know, just driving around town, I
just seem to see more people not using turn signals
and things like that. Are you guys seeing that as well?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Out on the roads there is an element of complacency
there where people just kind of get comfortable driving and
they develop little bad habits, and those little bad habits
can lead to bigger bad habits, and those bigger bad
habits lead to traffic crashes. So, yeah, you want to
make sure you're you're careful with the small things and
the big things when you're taking a trip on the
highway and when you're driving back and forth to work
(11:36):
every day.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah, I always think about, you know, back when I
was taking you know, drivers' education and you know it
actually took it. I think it was at the high school.
You know, it was offer when I was going to school,
and I remember, you know, somebody on a hundred feet
or whatever, put that blinker on before you're going to
turn or whatever it is. I think for a lot
of people you want to let them know that, hey,
up here, I'm going to turn before you just put
on your brake and turn, because that could lead to
(11:58):
an accident.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Well, they could lead to an act accident. It also
lead to a road rage scenario where you cut somebody
off and they take it personally and you have no
idea what that person is going through, what they're thinking.
You know, if they feel as though they've been threatened somehow,
they might take that personally. So unfortunately, we've seen some
road rage incidents on I seventy one that have led
to some criminal charges, and we take that stuff very seriously,
(12:22):
and so everyone should kind of be on the lookout
for that as well.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Good important information this morning before I let you go.
Mike Smith, Mansfield Highway Patrol sergeant. You and I last
time were in you talked about if people were interested
in becoming a trooper they could they could stop down
and do a ride along. You've been seeing an increase
in that, correct.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, the ride along program has kind of taken off
a little bit more recently. And basically, if you have
an interest in law enforcement, come down and talk to me,
and I'll get the kind of a feel for you,
what your intentions are, what your career path might be,
and we can try and put you into a vehicle
with a trooper or another position. I mean, that's one
of the benefits of the State Highway Patrols that we're
(13:03):
not just law enforcement officers. We also have motor vehicle inspectors,
we have electronic technicians, we have dispatchers. We have a
whole field of employment to offer. And if you're interested
in any one of those facets of the career, come
on down and talk to us. We'd love to hear
from you.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
All right, makes you a stap down Man's Field Post
of the Ohio State Highway Patrol again with us in studio.
You heard from him a little while ago, Ryan Swank,
motor vehicle inspector. We thank him for coming in. Sergeant
Mike smith Man's Field Post of the Highway Patrol. We
appreciate your time this morning. Thank you for being here.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Thank you. Eron
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