Avoidable Deaths

On the same page recently were two stories regarding traffic deaths in Orange County. In one accident on the Garden Grove Freeway, a 32-year-old woman, who was not wearing a seat belt, was killed when she was thrown from a car that overturned. Two other people in the car, who were wearing seat belts, received only minor injuries. Hours later, in an accident in Laguna Hills, the story was tragically--and, according to investigators, needlessly--the same. A 33-year-old woman, who was not wearing a seat belt, was killed when she was thrown from her car as it overturned. Her sister, sitting in the front seat and wearing a seat belt, was only injured.

California is one of the 24 states in the nation with a mandatory seat-belt law requiring that everyone in an automobile be buckled up. A recent Gallup Poll reported that the use of seat belts has quadrupled in the last six years. In that poll, 69% of the adults surveyed said they buckled up the last time they rode in a car. That’s good news.

Other nationwide surveys have shown that seat belts can be directly credited with reducing fatalities and serious injuries among front-seat occupants.

But they must be worn to be effective.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina, in a study released last December, concluded that even more lives could be saved with tougher enforcement of seat-belt laws. Police agencies should vigorously pursue that policy.

Common sense prompts most people to buckle up. For others, fines should help prod more compliance with the seat-belt law. But if common sense, university studies and fines aren’t enough, the recent avoidable fatalities in Orange County are two more tragic reminders to buckle up.