Seat Belts

SCHOOLS ARE OPEN, so the usual hassles over school buses have begun.One parent wants her child to ride the bus even though the home is just inside a one-mile radius of the school, technically putting her home in the walking zone.Another worries that children riding school buses should be wearing seat belts -- to reinforce the message to youngsters about buckling up as much as to better protect them in a possible mishap.Other parents complained that children were forced to stand in the aisles of buses during the first two weeks of school.

In her young life, it is doubtful that Erika Dennis traveled anywhere without being strapped tightly into a car seat or buckled securely by a seat belt.That is, until she went off to second grade at Howard County's Atholton Elementary on a school bus this week. It rumbled away with 7-year-old Erika perched on a beltless seat as her grandmother waved goodbye from the curb.After years of debate and a string of fatal school bus accidents around the country, the National Transportation Safety Board plans to release the results of a bus crashworthiness investigation later this month.

WASHINGTON -- The National Transportation Safety Board decided yesterday against recommending seat belts on school buses but called for tough new safety standards and urged that school buses and tour buses carry airline-style "black boxes" to help investigators understand accidents better.The board also urged governors to set up a uniform reporting system on bus accidents and asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to collect data on passenger injuries.The board's report followed a three-year investigation into bus accidents nationally -- including a fatal crash two years ago in Easton.

George Sugarman, 87, a sculptor whose colorful geometric aluminum designs were seen in museums around the world, died Aug. 25 in New York. He made his work friendly, incorporating benches and canopies into the architecturally scaled works.In 1975, one such piece, commissioned by the General Services Administration for the Garmatz Federal Courthouse in Baltimore, was opposed by several judges with offices in the building, first on aesthetic grounds. Later, they said it could be dangerous for children.

In an effort to curtail speeding and seat belt violations during the holiday weekend, Howard County police will target lawbreakers, concluding the department's participation in a two-month state-wide campaign and a weeklong national program.The Maryland Chief's Challenge is an annual program in which police departments set up checkpoints to target seat belt violations and to perform voluntary child-seat inspections. Police are also participating in a national program -- Operation ABC (America Buckles-Up Children)

WASHINGTON -- The National Transportation Safety Board decided yesterday against recommending seat belts on school buses but called for tough new safety standards and urged that school buses and tour buses carry airline-style "black boxes" to help investigators understand accidents better.The board also urged governors to set up a uniform reporting system on bus accidents and asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to collect data on passenger injuries.The board's report followed a three-year investigation into bus accidents nationally -- including a fatal crash two years ago in Easton.

WASHINGTON -- Most of the more than 2,000 children killed each year in car accidents would be alive if the adults who loved them had them buckled up properly.Most of those killed aren't buckled at all. Even when parents try to do the right thing, they often get it wrong because they use the safety seat the wrong way, use the wrong seat or use adult belts for children who are safer in booster seats.The federal government intends to change that.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is starting a campaign today to encourage seat belt use and take the mystery out of using child safety seats.

Bill to speed divorce after abuse passes HouseA bill that would allow victims of domestic abuse to get divorced more quickly in Maryland sailed through the House of Delegates yesterday on a 131-3 vote.Women's advocates are pushing to change the state's divorce law to exempt victims of chronic domestic abuse from the one-year period of separation usually required before filing for divorce. The only current exemption is for adultery.Similar but more vaguely worded legislation failed last year in a Senate committee.

Michael Collins, a West Friendship volunteer firefighter, has responded to serious accidents involving people not wearing seat belts.But yesterday afternoon, while driving down Frederick Road in his pickup truck, Collins wasn't strapped in -- and he got a $25 ticket for it."I know it's the law," the 21-year-old Ellicott City resident said. "This makes me think a little more."Collins and 43 others were ticketed yesterday at a safety-belt checkpoint that was run by Howard County police from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Frederick Road in Ellicott City.

Identical twin Carrie Krug, 18, of New Windsor doesn't travel anywhere these days without a 3-inch yellow seat belt securing her snugly in a hospital wheelchair, an image that casts a poignant perspective on the summerlong Maryland State Police "Buckle Up" campaign.A worn lacrosse stick across the foot of her bed last month at Kernan Hospital in Baltimore was the only hint that Carrie is an athlete who played lacrosse and field hockey at Notre Dame Preparatory School in high school. She completed her freshman lacrosse season at Roanoke College in Virginia, where she achieved a 3.94 grade point average in Spanish and international relations.

Let's talk turbulence. Last week, a Continental flight en route from Rio de Janeiro to Houston had to make an emergency landing in Miami because of severe turbulence. More than 30 passengers were injured, mostly with bumps, cuts and bruises, but a few were hurt badly enough that they were hospitalized. In a statement, Continental said the seat-belt sign was on when the flight encountered turbulence at about 36,000 feet. Passengers said the Boeing 767 dropped suddenly, tossing them and crew members around like rag dolls.

Question:: I was on a Southwest flight recently, and the flight attendant said that folks could not put their laptops in the seat-back pocket. Why not? Answer: : Consider the glove box in your car. It was designed to hold the operating manual and maybe the occasional work order for maintenance or repair. It wasn't designed to hold an accordion file of coupons and recipes, two tire gauges (in case one breaks, you know), a bottle of Excedrin, a "break-the-window-if-you're-drowning" hammer, hand lotion, 65,000 napkins and a copy of The Time Traveler's Wife.

No doubt some people will find Maryland's new child booster seat requirement onerous. The law, which went into effect today, mandates the use of some form of safety seat for children until they turn 8, weigh 65 pounds or reach 4 feet 9 inches tall. But it's all too easy to lose sight of the fact that vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for children in this country. Studies show a properly used safety seat or booster reduces the chances of a child being seriously injured or killed in a car crash by more than half.

TOULOUSE, France -- There were no Jacuzzis or bowling alleys. No casinos or gyms. But the chilled bottle of champagne perched on an elegantly laid-out double bed said it all. Singapore Airlines introduced the interior of its first A380 superjumbo jet in an elaborate ceremony here yesterday, bringing an end to a decade of anticipation over what the airline has said would be a vast change in the level of quality and comfort in long-haul air travel....

Historically, young males have had a significant edge over girls in a wide range of risky behaviors, among them, binge drinking and failure to wear seat belts. As a result, young men have been far more likely than young women to die in car crashes. Now, according to emergency department physicians from University of California Irvine Medical Center, boys still drink, fail to use seat belts and die in car crashes more often than girls, but girls began to narrow the gap in all measures between 1995 and 2004.

If you want to liven up your next party, perhaps to the point where the police will be summoned, merely introduce the topic of driving while using a cell phone. That is apparent from the reaction to my March 12 column in which it was suggested that an outright ban on the practice was not the right approach. Quite a few readers, it seems, have strong feelings on the issue. John S. White of Stewartstown, Pa., titled his reply: "Wondering what planet you live on." "I can't believe that you can honestly oppose making cell-phoning while driving illegal.

If you own an older vehicle, such as the space shuttle, you can expect to replace parts more frequently. Note: By the words "space shuttle," I am referring to my 1999 minivan, which has sustained one $2,500 altercation with an eight-point buck, and one $5,000 whack by a driver who failed to look past a snow bank. Since these collisions, the minivan has developed a few unexplained rattles and tremors, yet it continues valiantly on its scheduled missions; hence its nickname. Recently, the space shuttle required a replacement passenger seat belt.

First-graders at Jeffers Hill Elementary School in Columbia couldn't take their eyes off Otto, the automated talking car, as it wheeled around the cafeteria talking about safety and cracking jokes. The little car, about 3 feet high with a wide smile on its radiator grille and red and blue lights painted on its roof, wheeled up to pupils to ask questions. The children looked right into its plastic eyes to answer. The remote-controlled car was giving a presentation with county Police Officer Brian Markley, who works with Mid-Atlantic AAA on safety programs.

The deaths of four teen-agers in Monday's horrifying Alabama school bus crash is likely to renew the debate over whether school buses should be equipped with safety belts. A recent study found that school bus-related accidents injure 17,000 U.S. children each year. That's double previous estimates that were based solely on crash data. Most of the injuries are not life threatening, but require trips to emergency rooms. Safety advocates suspect many of these injuries might be prevented if buses were required to have 3-point shoulder and belt restraints.

A Baltimore man was killed when the vehicle in which he was riding went out of control on a curve and hit a tree in Glen Burnie late Saturday, Anne Arundel County police said yesterday. Raul Pelaez, 40, of the first block of S. Poppleton St. was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash in the 100 block of Margate Drive, police said. The driver of the 2003 Honda Pilot, Luis Lopez, 27, of the 5700 block of Kennedy St. in Riverdale was reported in serious condition yesterday at Maryland Shock Trauma Center.