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Safety laws because of safety-challenged people
I’m stepping up on my soapbox in this column. What’s wrong with people
that growl and grumble over safety regulations? Are they ignorant,
rebellious, clueless or all the above?
The young sort of have an excuse—they’re young. But, it’s up to adults
to teach the younger crowd about safe driving. Anti-safety law Ohioans
need a brain reboot or a brain transplant. “If I only had a brain,”
sang the scarecrow.
A 2019 article in The Plain Dealer pointed out that Ohio was one of 11
states that rates at the bottom of an annual report by Advocates for
Highway and Auto Safety, examining whether states have enacted 16
safety laws that studies show reduce road fatalities and injuries and
reduce costs associated with traffic accidents.
Ohio Needs Safety Laws
Ohio’s Child Passenger Safety Law is defined in Ohio Revised Code
4511.81. As of Oct. 7, 2009, Ohio’s children are required to use
belt-positioning booster seats once they outgrow their child safety
seats until they are 8 years old, unless they are at least 4 feet, 9
inches (57 inches) tall. www.ohio.gov.
Every driver and front seat passenger must wear a seat belt. In 2018,
121,019 people in Ohio were convicted of driving or riding in a
passenger vehicle without wearing a seat belt, a 3 percent decrease
from 2017, according to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The Ohio
State Highway Patrol (OSHP) wrote 137,080 seat belt citations in 2018.
In 2018, only 41 percent of motorcyclists involved in crashes were
wearing helmets. For motorcycle occupants killed in crashes, this
number dropped to 33 percent Ohio only requires helmets for drivers
under 18, drivers with less than one year of motorcycle driving
experience or passengers on motorcycles where the driver is required to
wear a helmet, according to Ohio Traffic Safety Office.
From 2015-2017, 4,198 drivers were convicted of failing to stop for a
school bus that was loading or dropping off passengers. OSHP troopers
wrote 1,734 such citations during that time.
From 2016-2018, there were 132,744 traffic crashes in Ohio involving at
least one teen driver, about 15 percent of all crashes.
www.ohiohighwaysafetyoffice.ohio.gov.
Ohio Safe Communities is a data-driven initiative to save lives and
reduce injuries through collaboration among state, county and local
partners. There are 45 countywide community-based programs in 2017.
Each program has five primary goals: increasing seat belt usage,
increasing seat belt and impaired driving awareness, increasing
motorcycle safety awareness, coalition building, and fatal data review.
According to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, the total licensed drivers in the state of Ohio in 2017 was 7,922,923.
Every person that gets behind the wheel needs to become a “mindfulness
driver.” As soon as the vehicle door shuts, take a few seconds to focus
on driving safely to your destination. Be mindful of backing out or
pulling forward. No texting, no eating, and no road rage while driving.
Pay attention. What rocket scientist decided to put radios and
tape-players in vehicles? Aren’t these devices distracting? No
listening to books on tape. Pay attention. The yellow traffic light
does not mean hurry up—it means to stop because the red light is
coming.
I confess to speeding on major highways—so I need to hold myself
accountable and drive the speed limit. It’s better to be late—than
dead. Dying in a car accident is not how I want to leave the earth. And
I certainly do not want to be the cause of injury to others.
Why do Ohioans need to follow safety laws? Because of crosses on the
side of roads—places where drivers and/or passengers died. Roadside
memorials to mark the spot where loved one drew their last gulp of
oxygen. So surreal.
“Advocates calls on state lawmakers to pass the recommended laws in the
Roadmap Report and urges Congress and the U.S. Department of
Transportation to require that advanced safety technologies, which are
backed by research and data, be installed in all new cars. On the path
to fully autonomous vehicles, too many lives are at stake in the
meantime. We can and must act now. —Catherine Chase at
www.sasferoads.org.
Melissa Martin, Ph.D., is an author, columnist, educator, and therapist. She lives in Ohio.
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