Safety Crusade Rises From Deadly Car Accident

James Miller of La Costa figured he had done his parental duty that Sunday afternoon last November when he buckled up his family for the short trip to his sister’s house in San Marcos.

He and his wife, Patricia, used the front-seat shoulder harnesses in their late-model Ford Escort. Their twin 11-year-old boys, Richard and James Jr., donned their lap belts for the scenic drive along rural Rancho Santa Fe Road.

This was a family prepared for any emergency, Miller thought. One year later, the 44-year-old printer, who moved to Southern California from England 11 years ago, now knows that was hardly the case.

As it rounded an abrupt, wind-swept curve with the Pacific and picturesque Batiquitos Lagoon in view, the Millers’ car collided head-on with a vehicle driven by a 27-year-old San Marcos woman.

He Didn’t See Any Blood

The impact knocked Miller unconscious. He awoke momentarily to see paramedics ministering aid to his wife and boys. Everything was OK, he thought, because he didn’t see any blood.

It was only later that he learned of the severity of the crash.

One of his boys was dead from the impact. The other had been paralyzed from the waist down with spinal damage. The unlicensed driver of the other car, which police said veered into the Millers, also died.

But, although the front section of the Millers’ car had been demolished, James Miller and his wife had escaped serious injury because they were wearing their shoulder harnesses.

In June, they filed a $23-million lawsuit against the Ford Motor Co. and the city of Carlsbad, claiming that the city knew that the stretch of road was dangerous and in need of repair.

Five Deaths, 40 Injuries on the Curve

Police statistics show there were five deaths and 48 injuries on the curve last year, the highest recorded on any in street Carlsbad, the family claims. Nonetheless, they say their sons might have walked away from the crash had the car been equipped with proper shoulder harnesses.

As a cost-cutting measure, Ford did not install back-seat shoulder harnesses in Escorts sold in America from 1985 to 1989. Such cars sold in Europe, however, were equipped with the devices, as required by law there, according to the lawsuit.

The standard-equipment seat belts in the back seat of the car, the family contends, contributed to their sons’ death and injury.

Because of adjustments made by the car manufacturer to keep the belt from slipping between the cushions, the back-seat lap belts rested at an improper angle against the waist instead of the pelvis bone, the family’s suit alleges.

‘Like a Sharpened Knife’

“At impact, that belt cut through those boys’ internal organs and spinal cord like a sharpened knife,” according to the couple’s attorney, Craig McClellan.

The Millers have started a crusade to ensure that their family has not been devastated in vain.

On Tuesday, the family talked about the accident for the first time, saying that a judgment against Ford might convince the car maker to recall 1.7 million Escort and Mercury Lynx cars nationwide and repair the allegedly faulty lap belts.

“You get conditioned, you get lulled into thinking that if you get into a car made by a reputable company like Ford, you’re going to be safe,” Miller said.

There are holes, he says, in the campaign that convinces people that merely buckling up can save their lives.

‘Lap Belts Aren’t Safe’

“We’re keen to dispel the myth that it’s OK to buckle up in a lap belt,” he said. “It makes me shudder to think of all those people who buckle their children up in lap belts and think they’re done with their job. They’re not, because the lap belts aren’t safe.”

Despite losing a similar seat-belt liability case in Baltimore two years ago, Ford last week filed a $13-million cross-claim against the city of Carlsbad. Under the claim, the car maker wants Carlsbad to pay part of the damages if Ford is found at fault. (Attorneys for Ford in San Diego and Virginia did not return telephone calls Tuesday.)

“They’re pointing the finger at each other, each saying the other is responsible,” McClellan said. “The fact is, they’re both to blame.”

Carlsbad City Atty. Vince Biondo said he isn’t pointing the finger at anyone, adding that he wasn’t surprised at Ford’s legal maneuver. “Everybody cross-complains against everyone else in these matters,” he said. “The news would be if they didn’t.”

Although there are plans to realign the curve this fall, Biondo insisted that the case is between the plaintiffs and the car maker, not the city of Carlsbad.

Other Driver Blamed

“You had a woman who was an unlicensed, inexperienced and uninsured driver going too fast for the road conditions when she swerved and hit that family,” he said. “A horrible thing happened. But that doesn’t mean the taxpayers are responsible.”

Since the crash, Miller has pressed the issue of seat-belt safety at work, even in his neighborhood. Several neighbors have even tried to have shoulder harnesses installed in their cars, he said.

“Nobody would do it for them, not even the dealers, because of the liability thing,” he said. “Some even went out and bought new cars with the harnesses, they felt it was that important. They saw what going without did to this family.”

Miller said the family wasn’t notified that the harnesses weren’t installed in the car as a cost-saving measure. “I would have liked the option to have given them the $12 to have the harnesses put in. I think a lot of people would.”

Federal Requirement

Beginning with 1990 model cars, federal law will require that all cars sold in the United States be equipped with rear-seat shoulder harnesses, the family’s attorney said.

Today, 12-year-old Richard Miller is unable to play soccer, the sport at which his father taught him to excel. On the day before the accident, he had scored his first two soccer goals ever in the after-school league in which he played, thanks to some advice from his father.

“I had my thoughts on how he should play, but I backed off because he already had a coach,” said Miller, who grew up watching soccer in Manchester, England. “Then the day before the accident his coach got sick and asked me to take over for one game.

“So I told him a few things, and this time he listened to me. He scored two goals. It was a big day for both of us.”

Now Richard plays wheelchair tennis. And he still listens to his Dad. “Yes, he takes my advice, listens to my pointers,” Miller said. “He’s a good boy.”