Floridians' failure to buckle up often fatal

Justin Smith was a typical teenager, looking forward to a new job, Christmas and high-school graduation. But his future disappeared last month with a sudden twist of a steering wheel on a Polk County road.

Justin became another grim statistic of teen boys and young men throughout the country -- and especially in Florida -- who are dying without seat belts on.

"Nobody will ever know just how sick, sick, sick you feel when you lose a child," said his mother, Bonnie Smith, 50, of Lakeland. "It's like a never-ending emptiness and ache inside, and I don't think anybody could explain it."

Florida overall has a dismal record of accident victims killed without their seat belts on. Among the nation's largest counties, the three worst are in Florida, an Orlando Sentinel investigation found. Though the number of deaths of unbuckled people has declined modestly in recent years, six in 10 of those killed during the past four years in Florida wore no belts.

The Sentinel's analysis of federal data found that young men are far more likely to die without seat belts on than any other group. In Florida, young people, particularly males, are dying without wearing seat belts at even higher rates.

The analysis, based on federal data from 2000 to 2003, revealed who is dying and where without seat belts:

- Nationally, 59 percent of all the drivers and passengers who died in cars, trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles were not wearing seat belts. In Florida, the percentage was a little higher, while Central Florida was close to the national average.

- Among males ages 16 to 29, 71 percent died without seat belts on nationally, while 79 percent died without seat belts on in Florida and 77 percent within Central Florida.

- Hispanics and blacks of all ages are more likely than whites to die without seat belts on. Nationally, 62 percent of Hispanics and 65 percent of non-Hispanic blacks who died in car crashes were unbuckled. In Florida the numbers were worse: 69 percent of Hispanics and 71 percent of blacks. Asians were more likely to be belted in.

- Among the nation's 50 most populous counties, Hillsborough (Tampa), Palm Beach (West Palm Beach) and Orange (Orlando) ranked 1-2-3 for the most unbuckled traffic deaths per million residents from 2000 through 2003.

"It's shocking," said state Rep. Irving Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, who's been crusading in the Legislature for tougher seat-belt laws and enforcement since he first got elected in 2000. Slosberg's 14-year-old daughter, Dori, died in 1996 without a seat belt on.

"Public safety has to be our No. 1 priority," Slosberg said.

For the past four years, the state Legislature has failed to pass measures that would allow police to stop motorists who aren't wearing seat belts.

It's often impossible to say that seat belts would save lives in most specific car crashes, said Sgt. Robert Blackwell, a veteran traffic-homicide investigator for the Florida Highway Patrol's Troop D, which patrols Central Florida. But like many emergency workers who find themselves at too many fatal accidents, Blackwell is certain seat belts save lives.

"The percentage of not being injured or killed in a crash is so much greater if you're wearing a seat belt than if you're not," Blackwell said.

It's particularly true in rollovers -- even slow ones, he said.

"I can almost guarantee you 80 percent of the time in an overturn crash, we have ejections of those not wearing seat belts," Blackwell said. "It doesn't take a lot."

For 17-year-old Justin Smith, a late-night drive Nov. 14 with his best friend, Michael Walton, ended tragically when Justin lost control of his 1994 Toyota 4Runner. The 4Runner went into a spin, then a tumble, slinging out Justin and Walton, 18.

Walton was in a coma for several days. Justin died in surgery at Lakeland Regional Medical Center.

Justin's father, Wayne Smith, 49, thinks if his son were wearing a seat belt, he wouldn't have died. He hopes other young people learn from Justin's death.

"You can look at his vehicle and tell if he had his seat belt on, he probably would have lived," Smith said.

Justin, a senior at Lake Gibson High School in Lakeland, worked hard in a lawn-care service and maintained good grades. He was to start working at a Lakeland restaurant the day after he died. He also loved to fish, to go to the beach or to go boating -- anything to get near water. That love of water also led him to a secret he was keeping from his parents, though he told his two sisters, Amber Smith, 22, and April Gardner, 25, and Walton.

Justin planned to join the Navy after he graduated.

"I think it was going to be his surprise for me for my Christmas present," Wayne Smith said, suggesting he couldn't have imagined a better gift.

Justin's death is the kind of loss that touches hundreds of Florida families every year. From 2000 through 2003, 2,036 people between ages 16 and 29 died in Florida without seat belts on, according to federal data.

More than three-quarters of them were boys or young men. The chances that young men would go without seat belts is no secret to police, highway officials or safety advocates.

"The insurance industry, through their actuarial data, has proven that younger males tend to be more willing to take risks. That's why their insurance rates are sky-high," said Kevin Bakewell, senior vice president for public and government relations for AAA Auto Club South.

Bakewell also said too many people hold the misconception that airbags alone can save people's lives.

"Those things were designed to work with seat belts," he said.

Florida is one of 28 states that have "secondary" seat-belt laws that allow police to ticket someone for not wearing a seat belt only if the officer first pulls the car over for another violation. New Hampshire has no seat-belt law. Twenty-one other states have primary laws, allowing police to pull someone over specifically for not wearing a seat belt.

That's the law that Slosberg wants in Florida.

Last year his proposal was approved 81-39 in the Florida House of Representatives but died in the Florida Senate's Transportation Committee without a vote. Slosberg has filed the bill every year and has picked up more support each year. He has filed another one for the 2005 session.

The chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee last year, James Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, did not return a call from the Sentinel last week seeking an interview to discuss the proposal. Nor did Sen. Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden, who chaired the Senate Subcommittee on Transportation and Economic Development, where a similar bill died without a vote in 2003.

Opponents of primary seat-belt laws argue that such laws do little to save lives and can be used by police to unfairly target blacks and other minorities. Teach people about seat belts and more will use them, they say.

Slosberg said parents need the threat that a primary seat-belt law offers young drivers.

"We can't educate them anymore," Slosberg said. "The objective now is we have to make it an offense. Young men, teenagers, the last thing they want to do is lose their driving privileges. So if they go home with a ticket, mom and dad will take their car away."

Still, Florida seat-belt use has been steadily increasing since 2000, reaching a record 76.3 percent of 31,751 drivers and front-seat passengers observed this past spring by researchers from the Florida Government Performance Survey Research Center at Florida State University.

The survey, done under federal guidelines, was done in June at 351 intersections throughout the state. In 2000, the rate was 60.1 percent.

And deaths of people not wearing seat belts have declined in recent years, according to Sentinel analysis. In 2000, 1,407 people without seat belts died in car crashes in Florida; last year, 1,277 people did. The percentage of people dying unbuckled, among all those who died in Florida crashes, has fallen from 67 percent in 2000 to 60 percent in 2003.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration thinks the numbers can improve more if Florida had a primary seat-belt law. The agency calculates that primary seat-belt laws have increased seat-belt use by an average of 11 percent in states that adopted them.

In Florida an 11 percent increase in seat-belt use would, each year, prevent 192 traffic deaths, 2,650 serious injuries and $550 million in economic impact ranging from damaged vehicles to lost wages, according to the NHTSA.

"Secondary-law states never get past 80 to 85 percent" use, said Terry Schiavone, NHTSA Southeast regional administrator. "In primary states -- California, New Mexico, Hawaii -- they're in the high 80s and low 90s. If you have 11 percent more people wearing safety belts, your state's fatality rate for people not wearing seat belts has got to be lower."

On the night he died, Justin Smith left the house about midnight, telling his father he was going to Walton's house, just a few blocks away, so the two could get up early the next morning to go fishing. But he and Justin were out on U.S. Highway 98 at 1:30 a.m. when Justin rolled the 4Runner about a mile from home.

As usual, Justin wasn't wearing his seat belt.

"They don't think it's really necessary," Walton said of young men his age. "You feel like it's not going to happen to you."

Walton spent four days in a coma. He emerged with no other major injuries, though he lost memory of the night. Now, Walton always buckles up. He doesn't preach using seat belts to his friends, but they get the message.

"I usually just put on mine, and they'll notice," Walton said. "And then they'll put theirs on."

By Scott Powers Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer

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