Published: March 29, 2008 06:31 pm            

TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORAL: A worthwhile project for teenage drivers

Getting teens focused on safety a good thing

TERRE HAUTE — Two neighbors shared a bittersweet hug as an assortment of teenagers watched, along with community leaders.

Tami Smith wished she’d attended Tuesday’s news conference in her role as a health-care careers teacher at West Vigo and Northview high schools. Instead, Smith came to the launch of the Vigo County School Corp.’s seat-belt awareness program “as a mom who grieves the loss of her son on a daily basis.”

Smith sat beside her neighbor, Danny Tanoos, the superintendent of Vigo schools. During Tuesday’s session, Tanoos and other school, civic and law enforcement officials explained the program, which will reward high schoolers who buckle up and potentially penalize those who don’t.

Once the explanations were over, Tanoos made his personal connection to the issue clear.

“People say, ‘If you can save just one life,’” he said in a breaking voice. “Well, I don’t want to save just one life. I want to save every life.”

He leaned toward Smith and hugged her.

Tanoos built a long friendship with the Smith family and their 19-year-old son, Travis. On Jan. 26, 2007, Travis got into a car for a short journey in Muncie, where he was a student at Ball State University. He rode in the back seat, and wasn’t wearing a seat belt. “So often kids think — and Travis was on a five-block trip — that nothing can happen,” Tami Smith told the gathering.

Instead, something tragic did happen. A collision instantly killed Travis.

Young people are involved in a disproportionately high percentage of automotive accidents. In 2004, fatal crashes involving drivers ages 15 to 20 killed 217 people in Indiana, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Of those, 98 were the teen drivers themselves, but another 65 were their passengers, and 54 more were bystanders or people in other vehicles. Nationwide, nearly two-thirds of all teens killed in traffic accidents were not wearing a seat belt, NHTSA figures show.

In a state that has been far too lax in enacting more responsible teen driving laws, the school corporation’s seat-belt program is a healthy example of proactivity. It began this week, start of spring break beginning Friday afternoon. School officials, assisted by police, checked students’ cars as they left the high school parking lots. Those buckled up earned coupons to Terre Haute restaurants that helped sponsor the project. Those unbuckled got a warning, this time. In upcoming checks, second offenses will result in a letter home to parents, and third offenses may lead to a loss of school parking-lot privileges.

Some teen motorists may consider the program a hassle or an invasion. Strident seat-belt opponents, no doubt, will too. But such resistance ignores reality. Police officers at Tuesday’s news conference recounted the virtues of buckling up, and the harsh realities of failing to do so.

“At the 3 a.m. knock at the door, when the parents open the door and they see uniformed police officers, you can imagine what runs through their minds,” said Greg Ewing, chief deputy of the Vigo County Sheriff’s Dept.

The school corporation’s program could help prevent such painful moments. It’s a worthwhile project, powerfully illuminated by Tami Smith’s heartfelt story.

        

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