Secretary of State White Announces Support Of Standard Safety Belt Law in Illinois
18 February 1999
Secretary of State White Announces Support Of Standard Safety Belt Law in Illinois In a Nationally Coordinated Effort, Kids Ask Illinois Leaders
To Do More to Protect Children From the Leading Risk They Face
-- Riding Unrestrained in a Crash
SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Feb. 18 -- "We need stronger seat belt
laws to protect us and our families." That's the message Mary Beth and Chris
Sentel delivered to Secretary of State Jesse White and state legislators in a
press conference at the state Capitol today. Secretary White's goal is for
Illinois to protect children by enacting a strong standard seat belt law that
covers adults. The appeal is based on new research showing that most adults
who don't wear seat belts don't buckle up kids.
"Research shows that when a driver is buckled, children are buckled more
than 87 percent of the time," said White. "When a driver is unbuckled,
restraint use for children plummets to less than 24 percent."
White cited a national observational study conducted by the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The research is backed up by more than
a dozen national and state observational studies, including a study from the
journal Pediatrics.
The Sentels met with other Illinois leaders including Senator John
Cullerton and Senator Bill Mahar. A high-ranking officer of the Illinois
State Police; Sheriff Roger Massey of DeWitt County; Professor of Surgery and
Pediatrics and Surgeon-in-Chief at Children's Hospital of Illinois in Peoria,
Richard Pearl, M.D.; and Kristen Micheletti, a parent who lost an unbuckled
child in a car crash, were also at the press conference in support of the
standard seat belt law.
The Sentels join children in the other states with weak secondary laws,
who are knocking on the doors of governors and legislators as part of a
nationally coordinated effort to protect children from the leading cause of
death -- traffic crashes. Despite laws in every state requiring kids to be
buckled up, six out of ten kids killed in crashes are unrestrained.
"The research is startling and clear," said Chuck Hurley of the National
Safety Council. "Adults who buckle up are three times more likely to buckle
up kids. It's clear we won't get the kids buckled until we get everyone
buckled."
On average, states that have passed strong standard seat belt laws have
increased adult seat belt use by 10 to 15 percent and child restraint went up
even more. For example, when Louisiana passed a standard seat belt law, child
restraint use increased from 45 percent to 82 percent in just two years --
with no change to the child passenger safety law.
Currently in Illinois, an officer can ticket a driver for not wearing a
seat belt only after making a stop for another violation. With a standard
law, officers may issue a citation for failure to wear seat belts, just like
other routine traffic violations.
"The seat belt law in our state isn't getting the job done to protect
kids," said White. "A strong standard seat belt law that covers adults is
what we need to protect our children."
Of the 136 children who were killed in car crashes on Illinois roadways in
the last 34 months, more than 57 percent were completely unrestrained. White
explained that increasing adult seat belt use is the most effective way to
reduce the staggering number of children who are critically injured and killed
needlessly.
"I want to tell the people who make the laws that they should do more to
get grown-ups buckled up," said Mary Beth Sentel, who was saved by the seat
belt. "If adults wear their seat belts, they will be more likely to make sure
the kids do, too."
Mary Beth was driving with her brother Chris in the car when they crashed
into another car at an uncontrolled, rural intersection. Both of them
survived the crash with minor injuries because they were wearing their seat
belts.
Car crashes are the leading cause of death to children of all races.
Nearly half of those who die unbuckled would be alive today if the drivers had
just buckled them up. According to a recent study by the Johns Hopkins School
of Public Health and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety,
African-American and Hispanic children are more likely to die in car crashes
than other children. In fact, African-American children ages five to 12 are
three times more likely to be killed in car crashes.
The Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, a program of the National Safety
Council, is sponsoring the state capital visits in Illinois and across the
country. The National Safety Council is a not-for-profit, membership
organization dedicated to reducing unintentional injuries in the workplace, on
the road, in homes and the community. The Council serves more than
37,000 organizations and individual members.
