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When it comes to helping kids be safe, sometimes it involves luck, but in Forest Lake’s case there is more to it than luck.
There
are alarming traffic fatality figures in the news recently. According
to figures released by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, at
least 98 of 176 teens (ages 16-19) who were killed in vehicle crashes
from 2004 to 2006 were not using seat belts.
That’s more than
half and proof, once again, that seat belt use is a factor in helping
save lives. When kids don’t wear them, they are much more at risk.
From
conversations with Forest Lake school officials this week, it is now
concluded that there have been no teen fatalities here at least in the
past two years. Steve Massey, high school principal, and Chuck Moses,
wellness coordinator for ISD 831, could not pinpoint any traffic
fatalities within this age group for the period of statistical release.
That, of course, is good news.
For
the statistical reporting period, 54 teens were killed in the metro
area and 24 of those who died were not wearing seat belts. There are
many crashes where seat belt use sadly can’t save a life.
Of the three-year totals, 10 of the deaths were reported in Washington County and 14 were in Anoka County.
Some
communities have not been as fortunate. Although not in this
statistical reporting period as a whole, the community of Princeton has
lost six teen lives in traffic crashes in the past 18 months. The pain
and suffering this must bring is hard to fathom.
It is more than luck that Forest Lake has escaped falling into the category of a school with teen deaths.
One
of the big reasons has to be the constant awareness programs sponsored
by the district and its students. In particular, the high school’s SADD
group (Students Against Destructive Decisions) continues to pound away
on their peers in support of lifestyles and actions that are positive.
One
is seat-belt use. Each spring the students survey seat belt use and
follow up the initial use survey with educational programs. “We do some
pretty gruesome stuff,” says Moses, who coordinates the effort. “You
keep pushing and pushing.”
And with good results, he says. Each
year the educational component has resulted in more students using seat
belts. Survey results show it, he says.
Forest Lake’s most recent
seat belt use survey among students last spring revealed that about 85
percent of kids were using them. That equals the adult rate in
Minnesota, Moses said.
He’d like to see that percentage grow to at least 90 percent, but understands there are limitations on how high it will go.
“We’re
not going to get 100 percent (of students) unless we get 100 percent
from the adults,” Moses said. “Kids learn from their parents. If they
(the parents) don’t buckle, the kids may well not buckle.”
Moses
understands that the awareness program works, but he also takes the
education to another level. In the educational programs, the staff will
repeatedly pound away at the point that using seat belts in trucks or
larger vehicles (SUVs) is not a guarantee of safety. There can be no
false sense of security, he says.
As a school official who takes
the safety of students very seriously, Moses would like to see the
state become more strict on seat belt use. Seat belt use is required by
drivers and passengers, but police still can not stop a vehicle for a
seat belt violation on its own.
“You can only push the envelope so far with kids,” Moses said.
Forest
Lake schools can take comfort that something they are doing is helping
and is working. They can take satisfaction that the district has dodged
the bullet at least for now on the loss of life, be it a student who is
buckled or not.
What officials here can’t do for a second is stop
trying to keep kids safe and there is no sign that will happen anytime
soon. If the effort can involve parents and all adults as role models
when it comes to seat belt use, we will all do our part.
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