Troopers get the word out

With school back in session the Nevada Highway Patrol is taking advantage of a captive audience in Clark County's classrooms to get out its messages on drunken driving and seat belts.

Troopers have distributed safety posters on the two topics to high schools throughout the county.

"It's all about having it in someone's consciousness," NHP spokesman Scott Flabi said. "What I'm trying to do is grab 'em while they're young."

Judging from statistics that's when they most need to be grabbed.

Impaired-driving crashes are the leading cause of death for people ages 15 to 20, Flabi, who speaks to high school drivers education classes, said.

And seat belt use is uncommon among teenagers. "Across the board, teens are the worst offenders for not wearing seat belts," Erin Breen, Safe Community Partnership director at UNLV, said. That is based on research from post-accident investigations, she said.

As NHP spokesman, Flabi visits numerous accident scenes.

"It's so blatantly obvious to see how important it (a seat belt) is," he said. "We see it over and over: People with seat belts are more likely to get up and walk away. Those without seat belts are more likely to wind up dead."

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that every 12 minutes someone is killed in vehicle crashes in America. The most effective means to prevent traffic injuries and fatalities is to properly buckle up each trip.

Although seat beats have been in cars for nearly 50 years, people have been slow to catch on to the idea of wearing them all the time.

Last September a sport-utility vehicle carrying five teens on their way home from Lee Canyon spun out of control and flipped a number of times.

Three were thrown from the SUV. Two died and one was critically injured. The driver and his brother were the only ones wearing seat belts. Both suffered minor injuries.

"And this was a horrific crash," Flabi said. "The car rolled eight times." In fatal crashes in 1997 where teens were driving, 70 percent of the survivors were wearing seat belts.

Given the small number of teens who bother to wear their seat belts, the potential for injury is great. In Nevada 43,700 teens between 16 and 18 years old have drivers licenses and another 3,000 under the age of 16 have learners' permits.

The problem is worse among minorities, according to the NHTSA.

Observed seat-belt use among blacks is 10 percent lower than the national average, the agency reported. And while black and Hispanic male teens travel less in vehicles, they are nearly twice as likely to die in a crash.

Posters featuring race driver Jeff Burton are being distributed to schools saying, "Las Vegas 400 Winner Jeff Burton does it! He always wears his seat belt. And you should too!"

The DUI poster was made from a prototype of a poster issued 10 years ago featuring a line of troopers and Camaros. "Having a drink for the road?" it says. "We'll provide the chaser!"

Teen alcohol fatalities have gone down this year, Breen said. But that isn't slowing troopers down from reminding teens that drinking and driving is a bad idea.

"Whenever we can get the word out, we will," Flabi said.

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