Winter 2019 | 3 VAST VAST NEWS NEWS Winter 2019 SAFETY AMBASSADOR PROFILE By Brandon Phillips My name is Brandon Phillips and I’m 34 and from Derby. I have two children and a wife who all love the sport. I own a small lawn care and excavation business in the NEK. I started riding back around early 2000 and took a few years off after my son was born. I got back into it a few years ago and now ride around 3,000 miles a year. Currently, I spend five to six nights a week grooming for the Country Riders and Drift Dusters. My passion for the sport has grown a tremendous amount in the last few years as I became more involved with the club and then on to be a director for the Drift Dusters. I volunteer countless hours to our clubs always trying to improve trail quality and safety. When VAST posted an ad looking for Safety Ambassadors, I thought to myself, “This is me!” I’d like to spend time on the trails helping others out if needed and helping other clubs with issues or concerns with safety that they may have. As an Ambassador, I want to help promote and grow the sport. I hear people say that snowmobiling is a dying sport and I don’t want to see that become true. We need to protect and preserve this sport and get more of our youth involved as they are the future! There are a lot of clubs out there struggling and dissolving due to the lack of volunteers. Everyone wants to ride and when it comes time to replace a bridge or debrush trail sections, it’s always the same faces and no one else can ever help. Please contact your local club and try to give a hand if possible. You would be surprised what a few short hours of your time can amount to. Volunteering has helped me appreciate the sport more and more everyday and I hope that being an Ambassador will help even more. By Pat Poulin Several years ago, VAST ran a pilot program in Essex county called the “VAST Trail Safety Patrol.” From that pilot program, the VAST Ambassador Safety Team Program has been developed. The VAST Ambassador Safety Team Program (VASTP) is a state-wide program with a two-part approach. First is to introduce riders to our Vermont Statewide Snowmobile Trail System (SSTS). Second, team members will also be assisting clubs by identifying trail hazards and missing signs, or by helping law enforcement at accident scenes. Anyone can be an Ambassador as long as they complete the annual two-hour workshop that includes information on snowmobile safety, zero alcohol tolerance policies, general first aid, familiarity with the VAST trail map, phone trail app, website trail map and our Snow Traveler’s Guide. Team members may be contacted for general questions about riding in their area or may be asked to take a group around to show them a trail network near them. All team members should have access to a snowmobile in good working order to ride that is registered and insured. All Ambassadors who successfully complete the certification process will be given a Volunteer TMA for their sled. There is a state-wide limit to the number of Ambassadors allowed into the program each year. Ambassadors possess an outgoing personality and positive attitude about riding in Vermont. They should be prepared to not only talk about their own club and trails, but also be willing to positively promote other clubs and regions. Team members should have some level of fitness in case assistance is needed. The other primary goal of the team is to identify and remedy trail hazards. VAST AMBASSADOR SAFETY TEAM PROGRAM This includes removing rocks or debris from the trail and providing warnings for washouts or other hazards that cannot be removed. Other team activities can also include: • Checking for proper trail signage; • Providing information to snowmobilers on the trail; • Rendering assistance for accidents or breakdowns; • Alerting clubs of missing signs or hazards you cannot resolve; • Assisting riders who may be lost or in need of assistance. Ambassadors are not law enforcement and should never present themselves as such. However, they are provided contact information for all law enforcement agencies that VAST contracts with. Team members do complete reports and submit them to VAST for data collection. Currently there are 33 certified ambassadors statewide. For more information about becoming a member of the Ambassador team, contact Safety Committee Chair Pat Poulin at polaris70@comcast.net or Cindy Locke at Cindy@vtvast.org.