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Virginia passed a milestone in 2007 for the number of people killed on the state’s highways. Many, including a Norfolk middle school teacher, a 6-year-old Portsmouth boy and a car full of young people on the Eastern Shore, weren’t wearing seat belts.
In one of the last fatal crashes of the year, only an infant survived a two-car collision in Lynchburg. The Saturday crash killed her parents. The child was strapped into a safety seat; her parents weren’t wearing seat belts.
With preliminary statistics showing 1,012 deaths on the highways, 2007 is Virginia’s deadliest since 1990 .
It’s wrong, of course, to think that seat belts would have saved every person in these accidents. Too many were caused by excess speed or alcohol, and the victims didn’t have a chance. On average, 38 percent of highway fatalities are alcohol-related, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The good news is that 2007’s alcohol-related fatalities showed a 40 percent decrease over 2006, attributable in part to increased enforcement.
The bad news: Car crashes are still the leading cause of death for Virginians younger than 30.
Lawmakers have taken steps in the past year to remedy that, toughening penalties for aggressive and drunken driving offenses, and making it illegal for those 17 or younger to talk on a cell phone while driving. Those were responsible measures, but limited in their effectiveness.
Now that highway deaths have once again crossed the symbolic threshold of 1,000 fatalities, lawmakers ought to take another look at a safety measure of undisputed value – mandatory seat belt laws.
VDOT reports that wearing a seat belt can reduce the risk of dying in a car crash by 45 percent and by as much as 60 percent in a truck or sport utility vehicle.
In Virginia, it’s against the law to drive without wearing a seat belt, but law enforcement officers can’t legally stop a driver simply for failing to buckle up.
In other states that have changed their laws to allow stops for seat belt violations, the number of highway deaths has dropped significantly. The state of Washington, for example, saw a 13 percent reduction in fatalities and a 95 percent seat belt use rate.
Virginia’s General Assembly has debated this issue before. Some lawmakers, including Portsmouth Del. Kenneth Melvin, argued passionately that such a law would make racial profiling more commonplace. He makes a valid point, and the legislature should address racial profiling separately. But the greater good is served by a stronger seat belt law.
The inescapable fact is seat belt use saves lives. Officials estimate that seat belts save about 10,000 lives a year and that if 90 percent of drivers buckled up, we’d avert more than 5,000 deaths and more than 100,000 injuries a year.
Put some teeth behind the slogan “Click it or ticket.” Give law enforcement officers the power to cite those who aren’t strapped in.
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More Nannyism
It's amazing how many people are so eager to tell others how to live their lives. It used to only be the Pope, the Kremlin and Surgeon General; now it seems everyone wants to get in on the act.
If half the people would devote half the time they waste trying to fix other people's problems to fixing runs in their own hose, the world would be a MUCH more pleasant place in which to live.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it."
-- H.L. Mencken
You worry about your own risky behaviors and let me worry about mine...mkay?
Cheap and safe enforcement
Seat belt infractions can be one of the cheapest type of violation to enforce. All an officer has to do is stand alongside an on ramp and look into the driver's window. Pull over the offenders before they even get on the highway. They could also do the same thing when cars come to a stop at intersections. No need for chasing an offender in a police car, no need to pull cars off to the side of a busy highway, no need for radar or laser guns. Cheap and safe enforcement!
Too bad our leaders won't approve the legislation necessary to make this happen!
Police need to buckle up also
Like it or not, the police are role models for seat belt usage. I don't expect them to wear a seat belt when doing parade duty for example, but over the years I have noticed a disturbing number of officers not buckled up while on duty (in every local city). I work for the federal government and if I am involved in an accident at work, in a government vehicle, unbuckled, I can be fired. It is enlightened self interest to wear the restraint. I have mimed the "buckling up" motion to officers at stop lights occassionally and they sheepishly strap in. That tells me they just need reminding- remember, we treat guns as if they are always loaded and we need to give the same respect to the enormous kinetic energy that can be unleashed in an automobile accident. If an event requires an emergency response and medical/funeral expenses, then it is costing me as taxpayer, so in this case a law is warranted. Also from a humanitarian viewpoint I don't want to see anyone hurt or killed needlessly. Not bucklinge up in Virginia should be a primary offense.