Headed in the right direction
By Patrick Kelley
Originally published 01:39 p.m., January 14, 2008
Updated 01:39 p.m., January 14, 2008
Take a moment to imagine a world in which no one ever drives drunk or under the influence of drugs and every driver and passenger wears seat and shoulder belts.
How many lives would be saved each year?
Kansas got a glimpse of that world in 2007. During the year, state and local agencies emphasized enforcement of seat-belt laws and cracked down on drunken drivers. One of the results, according to the Kansas Department of Transportation’s safety chief, Pete Bodyk, was a marked decline in the number of traffic fatalities in the state.
In 2006, Kansas reported that 468 people died in traffic accidents. In 2007, the death toll dropped by 13 percent, to 404 fatalities.
It is unlikely that the reduction was due entirely to seat-belt use and sober driving. Intoxication is only one causative factor in traffic accidents and seat belts do not guarantee survival in an accident.
But it is undeniable that sober drivers are less likely to cause accidents and securely belted drivers and passengers are less likely to be killed or badly injured in an accident.
Two weeks ago, Kansas gave law officers the authority to stop cars in which teenagers are not wearing seat belts and to ticket the offenders. It’s a good law, and we hope that officers will use it every chance they get.
Kansas did well last year in reducing the number of deaths in traffic accidents, but the state can do better. Increased use of seat belts would help.
The 2007 statistics have given Kansans a clear message about traffic safety. If that message is heeded, the state will be on the road to a better — and safer — world.