Seat Belts

Tens of thousands of lives have been saved over the years because Americans more routinely wear seat belts and don't drive drunk. But there are other public health threats from those who text while driving or overdose on prescription drugs. That's why a group of researchers began looking at which prevention measures work and who is using them across the country to stem the rate of injuries of all kinds. Injuries are the third-leading cause of death for adults and the biggest killer of young people.

For the rest of May, and especially over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, Maryland State Police from the Bel Air Barrack say they plan to be out in force on traffic details, with a special focus on people who drink and drive as well as those who aren't wearing seat belts. In a press release issued recently, the state police said they want "to remind everyone that buckling up is the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself in a motor vehicle collision. " The enforcement effort focusing on people not wearing seat belts goes by the name "Click It or Ticket," and has been under way since the beginning of the month.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain (and State Delegate) Herb McMillan. We've leveled off at our cruising altitude, but you need to keep your seat belts fastened. We're in for a rough ride. Here's why. Our route of flight isn't what I voted for, but the liberal flight planners in our General Assembly think the economic weather is improving. Looking to the left, you see they increased state spending by another billion dollars, and that we project $1.4 billion deficits for years to come.

Tens of thousands of lives have been saved over the years because Americans more routinely wear seat belts and don't drive drunk. But there are other public health threats from those who text while driving or overdose on prescription drugs. That's why a group of researchers began looking at which prevention measures work and who is using them across the country to stem the rate of injuries of all kinds. Injuries are the third-leading cause of death for adults and the biggest killer of young people.

For the rest of May, and especially over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, Maryland State Police from the Bel Air Barrack say they plan to be out in force on traffic details, with a special focus on people who drink and drive as well as those who aren't wearing seat belts. In a press release issued recently, the state police said they want "to remind everyone that buckling up is the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself in a motor vehicle collision. " The enforcement effort focusing on people not wearing seat belts goes by the name "Click It or Ticket," and has been under way since the beginning of the month.

It seems so elemental it shouldn't bear a reminder: People cannot fly.Motorists who are thrown from a vehicle in a crash are four times more likely to be killed than if they had remained within the car. Fortunately, millions of people have taken that fact to heart as seat belt use in the country has swelled -- especially in Maryland, which last year led the continental United States in seat-belt compliance.But folks who need a refresher on the importance of seat belts, shoulder harnesses or child safety seats should look no farther than the recent headline news involving two athletes.

On some major measures of mortality -- cancer and inner-cit homicides -- Maryland doesn't fare well. But here is one statistic of life and death of which the state can be proud:Maryland is the leader in the continental United States in seat-belt compliance. And partly as a result of that fact, the state is en route to its lowest total of highway fatalities in nearly two decades.The lowest number of highway deaths in Maryland, 616, was recorded in 1964. We've had almost two dozen more than that to date with only three days left in the year.

Twelve people whose lives were saved or injuries greatly reduced by seat belts or child safety seats were honored with framed certificates by Lt. Roy Neigh at the Westminster state police barracks yesterday.Those honored were all drivers or passengers in vehicles involved in accidents in Carroll County within the past year, said Lieutenant Neigh, barracks commander.They are Anna Mae Warehime, Brian Keith Jones, Diana Leaman Stull, William Harry Hill, Leslie Nicol Vaselaros, Trey Miles III, Gail Lee Smith, Kimberly Freeland, Kyle Patrick Freeland, Mary Anna Phillips, Kristopher M. Phillips and Karyn E. Phillips.

In the city that reads, motorists need a two-word vocabulary lesson: Buckle up.Surveys conducted by the city and state show that Baltimore drivers and passengers are far less likely to wear seat belts than their counterparts elsewhere. The lapse has increased fatalities and the severity of accident injuries and costs, according to safety experts."Seat belt compliance, like a lot of things, has to do with people's concern for health and safety," said Fred Shoken, a city traffic safety educator.

C Drivers in Carroll County, particularly those of pickup trucks, have slipped considerably in the use of seat belts, according to surveys conducted last month.Pickup truck drivers complied with the seat belt requirement only 57.4 percent of the time during the survey, compared with an 82 percent compliance rate in a survey several months ago.The surveys are an activity in the Golden Eagle Competition, and no citations were issued during the observations.The Golden Eagle Competition is a new highway safety initiative sponsored by the Maryland Association of Women Highway Safety Leaders and the State Highway Administration, according to the Carroll County Health Department.

A two-vehicle accident in northwestern Baltimore County Friday morning seriously injured five people, including two young children. The Baltimore County Police Department Crash Team responded at 8:18 a.m. to the crash at the intersection of Wards Chapel and Liberty roads, near the Carroll County line at Liberty Reservoir. It took about 20 minutes to free all the victims from a Ford Explorer. Rescue units from Carroll County also responded. The Explorer driver, traveling east on Liberty Road, had turned left into the path of a westbound dump truck, police said.

The two brightly colored rubber bands that Orioles catcher Michael Ohlman wears around his right wrist — one orange and the other green — serve as a constant reminder. They remind him of two high school friends, Brett Wagner and Josh Rogers, who died in an automobile accident 10 weeks ago. They also remind Ohlman to always wear his seat belt when he gets into a car. The bands read "Josh and Brett: Forever our Light. " "[They] died on Christmas," Ohlman said. "They weren't wearing their seat belts, so these [bracelets]

A 5-year-old boy died Wednesday after the car he was riding in with his family was rear-ended on a Baltimore Beltway on-ramp, police said. Shortly before 3 p.m., an SUV rear-ended a sedan carrying two adults and two children on the ramp from northbound Interstate 83 to the inner loop of Interstate 695, police said. Cars were braking suddenly on the ramp, police said, and a chain reaction ensued, causing two additional cars to be rear-ended. Jake Owen and his sister, Alexandra Owen, 9, were flown to the pediatric trauma unit at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, police said.

Two people whom police believe were not wearing their seat belts were killed and three others were injured Friday night in a single-car crash in Elkridge. Howard County police say a 2008 Pontiac GT with five occupants crashed into a tree around 8:05 p.m. in the 6200 block of Lawyer's Hill Road. The vehicle was traveling westbound when the driver lost control, crossed the eastbound lanes and struck a tree. Police said speed appeared to be a factor in the accident. The front passenger, Jeffrey Ryan Giles, 19, of Linthicum, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Editor: Seat belts. Safety vests. The Clubs. What do these things all have in common? They are proven to save lives. While the third life-saving measure may seem like an unlikely counterpart, Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County continue to prove that an investment in a child's future can be life changing, and in certain instances, even life saving.  It is a pivotal time for American children. With high school graduation rates plummeting, drug use on the rise, and teen pregnancy skyrocketing, teaching our youth strong life skills from the beginning is crucial to their success.

There are few more joyful sights in the world than a big old dog sticking its head out a car window with a goofy grin, its tongue hanging out and its ears flapping in the breeze. Up until about 15 years ago, that was me in the driver's seat and a golden retriever named Gusty riding behind. A survey released last week brought that image to mind. It showed that dog owners, a group to which I once belonged, by and large do as I once did: They let the animal ride without restraint. After all, who would put a seat belt on a dog?

State and local officials will join law enforcement agencies today at the state police barracks in Westminster to renew a 10-year commitment to get motorists to buckle up.State and local authorities have declared May and June as Maryland Chief's Challenge months, exhorting motorists to comply with seat belt laws because statistics show that correct use of the belts reduces the risk of fatal or serious injuries."

The car struck a curb and went careening out of control in the recent accident on Uniontown Road near The Greens in Westminster.The car flipped onto its roof, but the driver was not hurt.She was wearing her seat belt.The message is clear: Seat belts save lives."I'm a good driver," some say. "I never travel far from home, and I don't need to wear seat belts."The sobering fact is that most accidents occur within 25 miles of home, with most serious injuries and deaths at speeds of less than 40 miles per hour.

Deaths in traffic crashes are always tragic, but there's an extra measure of sadness in the news when there's good reason to believe the fatality could have been prevented by something as easy as buckling a seat belt. There's been a spate of such crashes in Maryland lately. One that hit a chord with me was the May 29 death of Sarah Marie Stebbins, 21. The young Elkridge woman was driving just a bit too fast on Route 32 in Columbia, a stretch of road that I used to take every day to go to work, when she lost control of her car. According to police, she hit a guardrail and then a concrete barrier.

People were yelling at him to slow down, but Buck John Benny apparently didn't listen. The 16-year-old was driving home Wednesday night from swimming at Patapsco Valley State Park, behind the wheel of an old Plymouth Acclaim packed with friends and relatives, including a teenager crammed in the back seat holding her 3-year-old nephew on her lap. John Ward, a passenger, said the car was racing south on Ridge Road near the Elkridge Furnace Inn....