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Fatal crash again illustrates value of seat belts

Staff photo by CHRIS COYNER

The mother was not wearing a seat belt. The baby was in a car seat but it was not strapped in place.

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 16, 2009

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Layla Pinto-Tijerno

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It wasn't yet dusk when the two cars smashed into each other on a rural stretch of Polk County highway Tuesday.

The results were horrific for the four people in one of the vehicles. Three died, including an 11-month-old girl and a pregnant woman. A fourth is in a hospital.

For the three people in the other car, the worst injury was a broken leg.

The difference probably was the few seconds it took to snap the buckle of a seat belt and strap an infant's car seat in place.

Police see it all the time. It's not that everyone doesn't know the value of wearing a seat belt; it's that many motorists still don't take the time to buckle up. Or they have a multitude of other reasons they didn't bother to wear a seat belt.

"Usually they say they forgot," said Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Larry Kraus.

Seat belts are designed to do only one thing in a crash - keep you in place. If you're wearing a seat belt during a crash, you don't bounce around inside the car as much or get thrown from the vehicle.

The 17-year-old mother and infant killed in the Polk County collision were thrown from the car through the back windshield as it spun after the impact, said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

The mother was not wearing a seat belt. The baby was in a car seat but it was not strapped in place.

"If only it had of been, we may have a totally different story today," Judd said.

It's possible the baby would have survived like the infant in the other car, he said.

The physics are simple. When you're in a car, you are moving at the speed of the car. When the car suddenly stops, you don't. Without a seat belt to hold you in place, your body continues moving until it hits something to stop it, such as a windshield.

One excuse troopers hear frequently for not wearing a seat belt is that the car has air bags.

But air bags are meant to work with a seat belt. They keep you in the right position for the bag to deploy and protect you. That's if they deploy.

"Air bags are run by sensors. There's no sensor in a seat belt. And they're not much good in a roll-over accident," Kraus said.

The good news is that seat belt use increased between 2007 and 2008 in every category except for people 70 and older.

For those ages 8 to 15, seat belt use rose 1 percent to 83 percent and for those ages 16 to 24, use rose 3 percent to 80 percent.

For ages 25 to 69, seat belt use rose 1 percent to 84 percent.

It dropped 4 percent to 80 percent for those older than 70.

That information from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration may be why the rate of seat belt violations dropped in Florida and the Tampa Bay area from 2007 to 2008.

Statewide, the number fell from 17 per 100,000 people to 16 per 100,000 people.

The others, in order: Polk, 15 per 100,000 people; Pasco, 12 per 100,000 people; Hillsborough, Citrus and Highlands, 11 per 100,000 people; Pinellas, Manatee and DeSoto, 10 per 100,000 people; and Sarasota, 6 per 100,000 people.

Two Bay area counties exceeded the state average in 2008: Hardee at 20 per 100,000 people and Hernando at 18 per 100,000 people.

The lowest rates were in Lafayette County, just north of Dixie, also Florida's smallest county, with just three citations per 100,000 people, followed by Sarasota and Hendry counties at six per 100,000 people.

A change in the law is likely to halt the drop in citations.

On June 30, Florida law changed to allow police to pull over a car if someone isn't wearing a seat belt and issue a citation. Before the change, an officer could not stop a vehicle merely for a seat belt violation.

There are no statistics yet for the law's impact on citations, but Kraus believes it has been significant.

"They've probably doubled the citations," he said.

Here are some of the excuses for not wearing a seat belt compiled by the Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety:

Afraid of being trapped in a crashed car

Irritates the neck

Feeling restrained

Can't look over the shoulder

Too large for a seat belt

Not able to feed a baby

A medical condition

Janine Dorsey contributed to this report. Contact reporter Neil Johnson at (813) 259-7731.[footer]

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