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Greetings!
Spring is here--it's a beautiful season and life is good. Unfortunately, when celebrating the season includes driving without a seatbelt, safety is sacrificed. We don't know whether the outcome of 2 recent crashes would have included fatalities if safety belts had been in use. We do know that without them, some young lives were lost.
In one crash, one sister hit the other as they met coming opposite ways cresting a hill. The sister without a safety belt died. The sister using a belt lived. Read the full story We don't know if her belt made all the difference, but statistically, belts save lives.
In another recent crash, 2 teenagers graduated one week, and died in a crash the next. Again, we don't know if safety belts would have saved them, but without the belts, both were killed, while the occupants of the other vehicle, both belted, survived. Read this story.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens. Unfortunately, that age group is the least likely to buckle up of all documented groups. As we all work to increase Nebraska's buckling rates, let's not forget the teenage demographic.
Speaking of teens, it's time to vote for the winner in the Ac t Out Loud video contest:
There are no Nebraska teams entered this year, so be sure to get those entries going for next year!
Plus, if you know any y oung traffic-minded scholars, Bridgestone Tires has has not only extended the deadline for the 2011 Bridgestone Safety Scholars Video Contest, but they've also doubled the amount of scholarship prize money.
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Let's all go to the Summit
| The 2011 Safety Summit was held at the Qwest center by the National Safety Council, Greater Omaha Chapter, on May 18-19. While there were many booths promoting safety, featuring everything from steel toe boots to goggles to gear that keeps you cool, one of the most basic is the Click It booth. Buckling up in the car is a foundation of safety.
Summit conversations included several conversations with survivors. Chuck Wagner from Grand Island hit someone who turned left in front of him. While his pickup was crumpled and he had some bruises, he walked away from the crash. Rick Irwin from Omaha was T-boned on the driver's side by a red-light-runner. He said his glasses flew out the passenger side window from the impact, but again, aside from the belt bruises, he was fine.
Be sure to include a safety belt booth at your next health fair, and we want to hear about your survival stories! Have you been in crash and saved by your safety belt? Share your story!
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June is Safety Month
| | Have you done your Honor Roll promotion this year? We need you to head out to the parking lot and check whether the members of your work force or your group are buckling up. Honor Roll numbers are down this year--either because of our website glitches or because you're having trouble with the new 90% requirement--up from the the old 80% threshold.
Honor Roll process: Check your parking lot twice, at least 30 days apart. If at least 90% of the vehicle occupants are buckled up each time, you qualify for the Honor Roll.
Honor roll members receive a certificate signed by Governor Heineman and are honored at a Proclamation Ceremony at the State Capitol in Lincoln.
Does your business or group qualify?
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The "Click It Chronicle," our Click It Campaign e-letter, published whenever there is news, is available to all those interested in increasing safety belt usage. Please share this information freely. Take the information, copy to friends, businesses and organizations with the same concerns. Using the information provided will help reduce the needless fatalities and injuries on our highways and the associated costs. To subscribe to this e-letter, join the coalition, or be removed from the list, contact the Click It Team at cidri@safenebraska.org.
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