Buckle Up

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates has ordered police officers to wear seat belts and shoulder harnesses at all times in their cars never mind the complaints that the safety devices might get in the way of badges and gun belts or slow down response time in an emergency. The requirement, issued after three officers were killed when two patrol cars collided head on, makes sense. Seat belts reduce injuries and save lives.

There is no way to determine if seat belts would have saved the officers--Derrick C. Connor, Manuel Gutierrez Jr. and David Hofmeyer. But Vinson Drake, the only officer to survive the crash near downtown Los Angeles, had buckled up.

The lack of seat belts is not surprising. Only 30% of the officers--and 40% of the public--were in the habit of buckling up, according to information filed with the state Office of Transportation and Safety. To improve that record, the Los Angeles Police Department had requested an $852,00 grant to fund programs to educate the officers and the public and to pay for stronger enforcement of the state’s mandatory seat-belt law. The request was rejected last June, however, when Gates declined to require officers to use the safety restraints.

Gates’ new regulation, and the sad deaths of three young officers, should remind everyone that seat belts do save lives.