N. Franklin police officer knows firsthand that seat belts save lives
South Strabane police Chief Don Zofchak speaks during a news conference Tuesday with PennDOT and other law enforcement officials about the Click It or Ticket enforcement effort that will run through June 4.
When North Franklin Township police Officer Rodney Bush tells Trinity High School students in the Survivor 101 class he teaches to young drivers to always buckle up, he knows it can be a decision that means life or death.
Bush, speaking Tuesday at a kickoff for the Click it or Ticket seat belt enforcement campaign that runs through June 4, said he is alive today because of his decision to wear a seat belt more than 20 years ago.
Bush, who has been a police officer since 2001 and a North Franklin officer since 2005, had just been accepted into the police academy in December 1994. Bush was driving on North Main Street near Old Hickory Ridge Road in Chartiers Township on his way to pick up his mother at work when he was involved in what he described as a “horrific” head-on crash with a drunken driver.
“I was forced off the road, and they tell me my vehicle rolled three or four times,” Bush said during the event at the South Strabane Township fire department on East Maiden Street. “At least that’s what they tell me. I don’t remember the crash. I woke up six days later at UPMC-Presbyterian hospital.”
Bush said every rib was broken, and he also suffered a back injury that prevented him from sitting or standing.
“But I survived because I was wearing my seat belt,” Bush said. “I always have worn it and always will.”
“It is not just a slogan, but a fact that seat belts save lives,” he added. “I am here speaking to you today because of one.”
But, unfortunately, wearing seat belts is not a decision made by all occupants of vehicles.
Jay Ofsanik, safety press officer for the state Department of Transportation’s District 12, said that of the 17 occupants of vehicles who were killed in crashes in Washington County in 2016, 13 of them, or 76 percent, were not wearing seat belts. And he said the trend is continuing this year.
“So far in May, of the six people killed, four were not wearing seat belts,” Ofsanik said of the deaths in District 12, which covers Washington, Greene, Westmoreland and Fayette counties.
“That 76 percent figure is very alarming,” said South Strabane Township police Chief Don Zofchak. “Just last week, a young Bridgeville woman who was not wearing a seat belt lost her life in a crash near the Houston exit of I-79.”
Zofchak said his officers will be enforcing the seat belt laws and issuing citations, as opposed to warnings, in an effort to get the message across to everyone.
“This has to stop, and citations will be part of it,” he said.
As chief of South Strabane’s fire department, Scott Reese and fellow firefighters are often the first on the scene of crashes, whether on local roads or on Interstates 70 and 79. Both highways run through the township. Reese said responses to crashes represent the second-highest number of calls answered by the department.
“And being first on the scene, I see the direct impact of someone being unrestrained,” Reese said. “I see people who have been ejected or who have impacted windshields.”
Reese said he also has seen people who had been properly restrained walk away from horrible crashes.
“By wearing a seat belt, you increase your chances of not being injured or fatally injured,” the fire chief said. “Vehicle manufacturers have done what they can to make them safer, but it can’t be done without restraints being worn.”
Ofsanik said more than 365 law enforcement agencies, along with state police, will be participating in the enforcement effort. At least half of the enforcement will be done at night. Police will conduct traffic-safety checkpoints and roving patrols. Target areas include locations with a history of crashes involving unrestrained occupants. The enforcement effort began May 15.