The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

November 11, 2011

Seat belt campaign effective in select parts of region

By Dan Nienaber The Free Press

ST. JAMES —  

A Truman man who was seriously injured in a one-vehicle crash early Friday morning was doing something that isn’t as common as it once was: driving without a seat belt on.

Kyle Forstrom, 26, was ejected from the pickup, which crashed at 12:07 a.m. a few miles south of St. James on Watonwan County Road 10. He was traveling west when he veered into the north shoulder, overcorrected and rolled. Forstrom was taken to North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale for treatment of injuries that weren’t life threatening, the State Patrol said.

Troopers, deputies and police officers will tell you it’s best to be wearing a seat belt in a rollover crash. If belted, Forstrom would have likely stayed in the cab of the pickup instead of being thrown out.

That message is repeated regularly through the State Patrol’s Toward Zero Deaths campaign. It’s also frequently backed up by organized law enforcement efforts to stop and ticket people who are driving or riding in a vehicle without a seat belt.

Recent statistics gathered by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety suggest Blue Earth County residents are listening. The county had the lowest percentage of unbelted motorists killed in fatal crashes from 2008 through 2010. Out of 10 fatal crashes, only two, or 20 percent, involved motorists who weren’t wearing seat belts.

“I think it’s, first and foremost, the education,” said Cmdr. Jeremy Clifton of the Mankato Department of Public Safety. “I think those key messages that come out saying buckle up to save your life and save your family’s lives are helping.”

Young people have grown up learning to put on a seat belt whenever they get into a car, Clifton said. And they’re reminding their parents and grandparents to do the same.

Television commercials, other advertising and the portable, lighted street signs used to remind people to buckle up during the most dangerous driving weekends also have helped, said Lt. Dave Karge of the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department.

“You stop a car and people know ‘click it or ticket,’” he said. “That’s good. Less injuries makes less work for us.”

The news wasn’t as positive in a couple of other counties in the area. Both Brown and Martin counties made the state’s top 10 list of counties with the highest percentage of unbelted fatalities.

Of the four crashes in Brown County during the same three years, three of them, or 75 percent, involved motorists who weren’t wearing seat belts. There were 13 fatal crashes in Martin County and nine of them, or 69 percent, involved motorists not wearing seat belts.

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