Powell High School students encouraged to buckle up

Posted 9/6/16

“Between (ages) 5 and 35, the biggest threat facing you is our roadways,” Noel Cooper, executive director for Injury Prevention Resources, told Powell High School students at a Wednesday assembly.

Cooper and law enforcement officials urged …

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Powell High School students encouraged to buckle up

Posted

Survey finds 2 of every 5 local youth not wearing seat belts

Parents often worry about their kids getting involved in dangerous things, but it’s the everyday act of driving that can prove the most deadly.

“Between (ages) 5 and 35, the biggest threat facing you is our roadways,” Noel Cooper, executive director for Injury Prevention Resources, told Powell High School students at a Wednesday assembly.

Cooper and law enforcement officials urged students to not drink and drive or text while driving, but they primarily focused on seat belt usage. A recent unscientific survey of traffic at Powell High School found only about 64 percent of drivers wearing their seat belts.

Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Rodney Miears of Cody warned students that driving can be dangerous even when you do everything right.

Last year, a semi-truck turned in front of Miears on the 65-mile-per-hour North Fork Highway. The trooper credits his seat belt with saving his life in the ensuing crash.

On the other end of the spectrum, Park County Sheriff’s Sgt. Chad McKinney recalled responding to a January 2015 rollover that claimed the life of a 17-year-old Powell girl.

“If she was wearing her seat belt that night, there is a high, high probability that she would have survived that crash,” McKinney said.

He said having to speak to the girl’s parents was “one of the worst things in this job you can do.”

“Take that to heart and wear your seat belt so I don’t have to visit with anybody else’s parents,” McKinney told the students.

Cooper said in a statement that rollover crashes are the most common type of crash in Wyoming, and “you are four times more likely to survive a rollover crash when buckled.”

Injury Prevention Resources recently watched traffic around the Powell and Cody high schools. They observed 100 drivers in both places and spotted only about 55 percent of Cody students and 62 percent of Powell students wearing their seat belts.

The PHS student body welcomed their lead over Cody with a cheer, but the speakers urged them to do even better.

Wyoming Highway Patrol Sgt. Duane Ellis advised using a seat belt whether the trip is one block or 100 miles, noting a crash can come at any time.

“It is something that is so simple for you to do,” Ellis said.

Cooper said it’s “staggering” to think that only a little more than half of local students are wearing seat belts.

“I ask that parents really take a minute to see if their child is buckling up,” he said.

Injury Prevention Resources also observed school staff during their surveys and found 78 percent of the adults buckled up in Powell versus 64 percent in Cody.

Whichever school is found to have the better seat belt usage in a follow-up survey will be awarded a championship “Battle of the Belts” buckle.

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