LETTER: Seat belt campaign aims to save lives, not scare - Opinion

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Sep. 28, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

LETTER: Seat belt campaign aims to save lives, not scare

To the editor:

In response to your Sept. 17 editorial, "Scare campaign":

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Last year, 373 people lost their lives in Nevada due to traffic crashes; 123 of these were not restrained by a safety belt in the car. It is estimated that about half, or 60 people, would be alive if they'd buckled up. Wearing a seat belt can be the difference between calling a tow truck or calling the coroner.

There is an epidemic in this country: more than 41,000 people die every year on our nation's roadways. That's the equivalent of 12 fully loaded jumbo jets crashing and killing everyone aboard -- times seven. If this happened, the public would want the government to intervene and fix the problem. Why is there not the same concern for those traveling on our roadways?

"Click it or Ticket" is an innovative enforcement, education and public awareness project, spearheaded by the Nevada Joining Forces program. "Click it Or Ticket" works where education has not; people are more afraid of getting a ticket than of being injured or killed in a crash.

Since Nevada began this program in 2002, its observed seat belt usage rate has increased from 78 percent to 91 percent, saving multiple lives and preventing thousands of serious injuries. The reduction in fatalities and injuries has also saved money. The average economic cost per fatality is $977,000, with a serious injury costing upward of $1.23 million. These costs are paid by all of us, in respect to productivity losses, property damage, medical costs, rehabilitation costs, travel delay, congestion, legal and court costs, emergency services, insurance administration costs and employer costs.

Even though Nevada's seat belt law is secondary, it is still a law. It has been proved that changing the seat belt law from secondary to primary enforcement raises a state's usage rate from six to 12 percent within the first year. Yes, Nevada has an observed usage rate of 91 percent, but the number of unbelted road fatalities tells a different story: only 49 percent of Nevada's road fatalities in 2007 were belted in. Those not buckling up in Nevada are primarily young males, night-time drivers and impaired drivers. These are the people we want to influence where only campaigns like "Click it or Ticket" can help convince them to buckle up.

Nevada's "Click it or Ticket" campaign message is not misleading. All information clearly states that enforcement is secondary, and that "you'll only be given a ticket [for not wearing a belt] if you're first observed violating another traffic law." In fact, all of Nevada's traffic laws are standard enforcement, except for seat belt usage; why not make seat belt enforcement standard like all the rest? Why should an officer be able to pull you over for having an air freshener hanging from your rear view mirror, but not for something that might actually save your life?

TRACI PEARL

CARSON CITY

THE WRITER WORKS FOR NEVADA'S OFFICE OF TRAFFIC SAFETY. THE NEVADA SEAT BELT COALITION'S WEB SITE IS WWW.BUCKLEUPNEVADA.ORG.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Sad Summerlin wrote on September 28, 2008 07:15 PM: Mary Sunshine --- do you support the woman's right to choose to abort their pregnancy? If so... how do you reconcile this with your belief that we have no choice about wearing a seat belt, but we do have the right to kill a life... SimpleFacts wrote on September 28, 2008 06:46 PM: Mary Sunshine More people die from heart attacks annually that failure to use seatbelts. Final 2004 statistics for the United States show that coronary heart disease (CHD) is the single leading cause of death in America. CHD causes heart attack and angina. Mortality — 451,326 deaths in the United States in 2004 (one of every five deaths). Here are the stats to justify a law requiring exercise and weight control.. SimpleFacts wrote on September 28, 2008 06:37 PM: Sad Summerlin If Mary Sunshine is like most of the nurses, they have eaten a few dozen too many McDonald meals. We will be paying for her early retirement.. Lets make it illegal to be overweight. How would the seatbelt lovers like that. Sad Summerlin wrote on September 28, 2008 06:28 PM: Mary Sunshine also pays our hospital bills when we have a heart attack from drinking too much, or eating too much candy, or eating too many McDonalds French Fries... Eventually Mary Sunshine or someone like her will want to take away our drinks, our Cokes, our burgers, our cheese, our fois gras.... and tell us exactly how to live our lives, since we don't know any better. To paraphrase Karen Carpenter --- It's only just begun... Maybe if Mary Sunshine was around, she could have force-fed Mama Cass's sandwich to Karen Carpenter and they would both be alive today... I know that is sick and twisted dark humor, but it is to a point... PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE THEIR OWN CHOICES AND LIVE AND DIE BY THE CHOICES THAT THEY MAKE.... We don't need Mary Sunshine making them for us... Tim wrote on September 28, 2008 05:22 PM: mary sunshine,we all pay taxes for those emergency rooms and hospitals,not just you.you may be a blithering whiney scared of your own shadow worry wart,but spare us your i pay for you no seat belt wearers.you pay the same as us so take your head out and see the sunshine.liberate your sheep,this is america,we have a choice.wear your seatbelt proudly, we don't care. Brian wrote on September 28, 2008 02:37 PM: Mary Sunshine, How much do smokers cost you? Answer: Billions So don't complain to me about seat belts until they stop smokers. SimpleFacts wrote on September 28, 2008 01:39 PM: Mary sunshine Passive restraints are on the front and sides in some newer vehicles. How many people that were involved in broadsided accidents are saved by seatbelts? Seatbelts are designed for head on collisions and roll over accidents. That means there is a 40 to 40 percent chance of getting killed if you are broadsided. The choice should be ours, not the states, counties or cities. TimeRanger wrote on September 28, 2008 01:29 PM: I would just like to know where the author got those economic figures? $977,000 for a fatality? Just what was used to figure this - life insurance payouts? hilobamacaine wrote on September 28, 2008 01:00 PM: yes we do not have rights only privileges remember that you peons!!! Mary Sunshine wrote on September 28, 2008 12:50 PM: The majority of you live in la-la land. Your right to wear your seat belt or not ends when I, the tax payer, has to pick up the tab, which is every time there is a serious injury or fatality on the road. Which is to say that I pay for the dozens of emergency folk who have to respond to scrape what's left of you off the road, do the investigaton, motitor traffic all around, block roads for hous, etc, etc... Who do you think pays for all that? and if Im stuck for hours in the traffic I pay in lots of other ways too. Even a simple injury crash costs a lot of human and monitary resources... but you keep thinking it's your right to be an idiot... How about when you the great unbelted one kill another person in the car because you are flying around exercising your right to not be belted? Who pays for those you leave behind when you're ejected from the vehicle exercising your right to ride free? Grow up all of you! Realize we pay, we pay and we pay for your stupid, selfish, un-informed "rights?" and I for one am sick of it! Just in case you haven't heard this yet... driving in Nevada is not a right it is a privlidge that we test and pay for... if some of you are still so stupid you put your rights above safety, then officers should have the right to ticket your sorry butts. Then maybe I can get home at night. Trust me when I say if it really did only affect you I'd say go for it... levels the gene pool. Read All Comments