In spate of weekend car crash fatalities, many killed did not wear seat belts

Seven people killed in car crashes in Ohio over the Fourth of July weekend might have survived if they’d been wearing a seat belt.

According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, 16 people died in 15 crashes from Thursday through Sunday. Of the nine fatalities where a seat belt was available, seven people killed were not wearing seat belts.

In his March state of the state address, Gov. Mike DeWine highlighted that Ohio was one of the bottom 10 states in seat belt use. In 2022, Ohio was 13th in the nation for car crash fatalities per capita, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We see far too many crashes where seat belts could have been the difference between a person living or not living,” said Sgt. Ryan Purpura, regional spokesman for the highway patrol.

In the Toledo area over the weekend, two people not wearing seat belts died in crashes a day apart.

On Thursday afternoon, a driver on State Rt. 109 failed to observe a stop sign in Fulton County and was struck by a crossing vehicle. The driver, who was not wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene. The other three people involved in the crash, who were wearing seat belts, sustained injuries.

Some 17 hours later in Wood County, two cars and a tractor-trailer collided on I-80. Four of the people involved in the crash were wearing seat belts. Maria Reyes, 56, rode in a rear passenger seat without a seat belt and died during the collision. Two other people involved were transported to Mercy St. Vincent Medical center with serious injuries.

Brian Hoeflinger, a neurosurgeon at Mercy St. Vincent Hospital, has been on trauma call for the past week.

“It’s been exceedingly busy because of the holiday,” said Dr. Hoeflinger. “The people who are usually injured worst are people who don’t have their seat belts on.”

During a car accident, inertia often throws drivers and passengers forward, causing them to hit the steering wheel, windshield, or other parts of the car. Seat belts can mitigate the impact of those collisions and also prevent passengers from being thrown out of the car. Dr. Hoeflinger says he often sees fractures of the skull and face, injury to the brain, broken necks, broken backs, splenic lacerations, liver injuries, and broken bones in car crash victims.

In 2023, people not wearing an available seat belt accounted for 60 percent of traffic fatalities in Ohio, according to highway patrol. Such fatalities amounted to 793 deaths that year.

“If you had a chance to live my life with me on trauma call for a week and see all the unnecessary injuries that come as a result of not wearing your seat belt, you would better understand why it's so important,” Dr. Hoeflinger said.

Seat belt use in Ohio was 84.75 percent in 2023, according to the State Highway Patrol. This puts the state below the national seat belt usage rate, which is around 91 percent.

Ohio is one of just 15 states where failure to wear a seat belt is a secondary offense — meaning police must first pull a driver over for a different violation before ticketing for not using a seat belt.

In his state of the state address this year, Mr. DeWine highlighted Ohio’s low rates of seat belt usage and high rate of crash fatalities while calling for stronger seat belt laws. In May, Rep. Jon Cross (R., Findlay) proposed a bill that would change failure to wear a seat belt from a secondary offense to a primary offense.

Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Rustun K. Schack said that failure to yield and failure to wear seat belts — the combination of violations that resulted in the July 4 crash and death in Fulton County — are common features of fatal crashes in Ohio.

Lt. Schack encouraged passengers — including those in the back seat — to buckle up.

“It’s not the law to wear your seat belt in the back seat, but it is highly recommended,” said Mr. Schack. “Those seat belts do save lives and reduce serious injuries.”