For the last 28 years, members of Central Maine Power’s Public Safety Team have provided information to schoolchildren about staying safe around electricity. They have given the presentation approximately 7,000 times and must have wondered over the years whether they had a positive effect. Then, last month, they had their answer.

Kathy Hotham was driving her school bus in Albion early one morning last month during a day of high winds and heavy rain. Her son, Cody Elkins, 10, was a passenger. As they were riding along Quaker Hill Road, the bus struck an electrical wire. Sparks bounced against the windshield and when Ms. Hotham tried to radio for help, she could feel a current running up her arm.

Not surprisingly, she wanted to get herself and her son off the bus. But as she opened the door, Cody slammed it shut and told her to stay in the bus. He told her that, he said later, because that’s what he learned at the CMP safety presentation.

Another bus driver saw the accident and luckily the radio in Ms. Hotham’s bus ceased being electrified, allowing them to communicate with the other driver. Paramedics later determined that neither mother nor son was seriously injured.

(In the spirit of a public service announcement, this is what CMP has to say about vehicles and electricity: “It is true that you are safe in your vehicle when a live wire falls on it. But that’s because electricity always seeks the easiest path to the ground. If you remain in the vehicle, the path of the electricity will be on the outside of the vehicle – through the tires, and into the ground. As long as we do not provide a path to the ground through our body the electricity will not enter it. So when an electrical wire falls on your vehicle, stay in your vehicle until help arrives and the power is shut off by CMP. If you have to get out of your car because of a life threatening situation, jump out with both feet together, making sure that you are not touching any part of the vehicle when your feet hit the ground.”)

Fortunately, young Mr. Elkins, who was honored by CMP recently for his quick thinking, knew this and may have saved his mother’s life. And just as fortunately, CMP continued with the program year after year, even when it did not have stories as dramatic as this one. It is difficult to measure avoided accidents, of people knowing what to do and so not meeting with tragedy. CMP reports that adults tell safety team members that even after 15 years or more they still remember the lessons they learned in the presentation. The value of that could be incalculable.