Using seat belts the responsible, safe thing to do

April 17, 2005

Frontiersman editorial board

A trial is set to begin Tuesday in Palmer for a couple charged in the death of the woman's 5-year-old daughter in a 2003 crash near Mile 47 of the Parks Highway.

Kristin Maddux died and her 3-year-old sister was injured when the couple's Subaru wagon went off the road in the Vienna Woods subdivision, hit a driveway and rolled three times before coming to a stop.

Alaska State Troopers said no one in the car was wearing a seat belt when the crash occurred.

It will never be known if Kristin's death would have been averted if seat belts had been worn. But study after study by insurance companies and federal Department of Transportation agencies show there is a direct correlation between highway fatalities or catastrophic injuries and lack of seat-belt use.

Alaska drivers are less likely to wear seat belts than their counterparts in a majority of states, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics. This is not something of which we should be proud.

There is a strong tradition of anti-government sentiment in this state. The frontier spirit of individual freedom unhindered by the intrusive arm of government runs deep here, which is largely why we have been without a seat-belt law.

Those who scoff at the idea of such a law here because they don't think it's the place of any government to play nanny to adults need only to remember the tragic case of Kristin Maddux and her family.

Additionally, it is irresponsible to think that any injury suffered by someone not wearing a seat belt hurts only that person. Injuries mean insurance claims, and that drives up the cost of insurance for everyone.

We agree, in principle, "that government is best which governs least." But we also believe strongly in personal responsibility and common sense on the part of the governed.

In the absence of these, government needs to protect good people from the folly of the irresponsible. For this reason, we applaud efforts under way in the Alaska Legislature to increase awareness of the importance of seat-belt use.

Similar federal efforts have found success in dramatically increasing seat-belt use among adults and restraint devices among infants and toddlers. In turn, fatalities have decreased.

The 76.7 percent of Alaska drivers who wear their seat belts likely already realize the importance of doing so. We hope that legislative efforts to increase this percentage will bring the understanding that seat-belt use is something we can all live with.