17 PR & MARKETING COMMITTEE YEAR IN REVIEW Submitted by Carmin Lemery, Chair SAFETY COMMITTEE REPORT Submitted by Patrick Poulin, Chair The Safety Committee met this spring to look into several issues. First was the update of the safety education manual. The committee reviewed the existing manual and recommended several updates. Jere Johnson will send those updates to the printer. The Safety Education Program was successful this season. The 2016/17 safety class data is as follows per Jere’s report to the Governors Snowmobile advisory council.  53 Certified Instructors  247 Students were certified in 26 classroom courses. 1,292 students were certified via the on line course from May 1, 2016 to April 30 ,2017. For a grand total of 1,539 certified students. The committee would like to take this time to recognize Jere Johnson for his years of service as the DPS Safety education coordinator, and to thanks him for his service to the VAST Safety Education program. Jere retires this summer. The committee also is investigating the organization of a VAST Trail Safety Patrol. This was piloted in Essex county a few years ago with positive results. The purpose of this patrol is to monitor trail physical safety, not law enforcement. One or two teams in each county will ride and check the trails, marking hazards, removing any debris and notifying clubs of items of a larger scale that need to be addressed. They also would be available for assistance to riders, giving directions, maps, etc. The Committee also brought up the national discussion about hand signals. The International Association of Snowmobile Administrators (IASA) has recommended the 5-4-3-2-1 hand signals not be used and that riders keep their hands on the handle bars. The committee agreed with this and recommend that all riders always ride as though they may meet someone on the trail. I would like to thank the committee members for their time and dedication: Jere Johnson, Lewis Barnes, Dave Page and Ken Gammel. I also want to thank President Tim Mills and Vise President Jeff Fay for their assistance. This year has been amazing. The PR & Marketing committee has been hard at work. We have participated in tradeshows like the Big East Power Sports in Syracuse, N.Y., SAM show in Springfield, Mass., Maine Snowmobile Show in August, Maine and the Yankee Sportsman Classic in Essex Jct, Vt. This fall we are adding yet another the Grass Drags in Freemont, N.H. We have and are working with local organizations, Vermont National Guard, Blue Star Mothers of Vermont and area Chamber of Commerce and building our base for a better season ahead. We continue to work on expanding the website, logo wear and brought back the Military Ride In. We welcome any ideas, suggestions, questions or concerns. We look forward to meeting and seeing you out on the trails. Thank you to all that sit on this committee for your continued support. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with all of you this past year.