Have fun, but follow your gut, use your head, and make good choices. That was Lori Zacaruk’s takeaway message to Crowsnest Consolidated High School students during her presentation on off-highway vehicle (OHV) safety on Jan. 18.

The interactive 90-minute Safe Riders Program was put on by collaboration between the Alberta Snowmobile Association (ASA) and Zac’s Tracks, an avalanche skills and rescue program training snowmobilers. The presentation explains how kids can be safe and responsible when riding snowmobiles, quads, dirt bikes, side by sides, ATVs and other motorized equipment. The presentation concluded with a demonstration of avalanche rescue strategies and equipment.

“Off-highway-vehicles and the sport is an awesome family activity. We can get out and enjoy the backcountry and the beautiful areas that Alberta has to offer,” says Zacaruk. “Our hope is that by educating youths, we can bring out safety tips and environmental best practices that can be taken back to the family. Then, as a whole community, we can improve our understanding of safe and best practices and enjoy the backcountry.”

Vice principal of Crowsnest Consolidated High School Deanna Fidelak feels it is important to educate students on OHV safety, given how popular a sport it is in Crowsnest Pass.

“Because we live in a community that is very outdoorsy and we do have students using ATVs and out there exploring and having fun, we want to make sure that they are aware of the risks associated with the activity,” she says. “We want them to be proactive in preventing personal injury and making sure that they are aware of the risks associated.”

Zacaruk cited statistics that 145 people were killed in Alberta as a result of an OHV accident in the past 10 years. Throughout the presentation, she prompted students to consider the impact an accident or death would have not only on themselves, but also the affected person and their family.

Her ultimate takeaway message was to have fun, but to be smart and use best practices when doing so.

“I want to relate this entire presentation to choice,” she said. “I don’t think that all risks are bad. Because if you don’t take risks, you don’t expand where you are now. I’m not here to say ‘don’t’, but I really want us to scout and plan in our recreational time.”

Zacaruk herself is no stranger to the risks of OHVs. Zacaruk, seven months pregnant, and her husband Randy were in a rollover jeep accident in her front yard.

“We were just on the farm, weren’t thinking anything of it, hit the throttle on gravel road, lost control of the vehicle and we had a really violent roll-over,” she says. “My husband was thrown from the machine and I was tossed into the back of the box.”

Luckily, neither Zacaruk nor her husband sustained lasting injuries.

“We both walked away from it and we learned a lot,” she says. “It helped us change our attitudes and think what could go wrong. What I teach in these programs is exactly how I make choices. It wasn’t a close call; it was a wake-up call.”

To this day Zacaruk is an avid OHV user. She has worked as a stunt double for film and enjoys taking her family out on trails.

The Safe Riders Program educates between 9,000 and 11,000 students per year all across Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and is free for schools. The presentation took place just a few days before Alberta Parks Avalanche Awareness Day on Jan. 22.