Teens, Please: Use Your Seat Belt

For the young, especially in this season when proms are held and old chapters give way to new, life’s possibilities stretch out on the horizon. The hard knocks and moments of tragedy that become more familiar by virtue of having lived a while come calling only occasionally. When they do, they bring lessons in vulnerability--lessons not always absorbed in the carefree moments of youth.

Earlier this month, students at Newport Harbor High School gathered to honor a football star one last time, not to cheer a young man’s sporting accomplishments on a Friday night, but to mourn a life taken away on a freeway. Andre Stewart had died in a crash on the Pomona Freeway, and as became all too apparent in the days afterward, had not been wearing a seat belt, while his half-brother Lamar, who had buckled up, received only minor injuries.

The accident pointed up a reality that has drawn the attention of automobile safety officials. Many teenagers are not using seat belts even though the state requires passengers and motorists to wear them. A better effort to educate them is needed.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, young drivers are less likely than others to wear seat belts--about half compared with 62% overall. California Highway Patrol figures show that while the number of deaths around the state in car accidents has decreased, the number increased for teens slightly from 1997 to 1998.

California has strict state laws permitting drivers to be pulled over for seat belt violations, but somehow the message to wear them must be conveyed more persuasively to young drivers and riders. In interviews, The Times has found a variety of perspectives among young people who are averse to seat belt use, from forgetfulness to indifference.

The recent Stewart death serves as a reminder of how important it is to address this problem.

On a fine spring day, more than 1,000 people filled the high school stadium to place flowers and balloons near the young man’s jersey, as students took turns remembering a friend. And every parent could feel the loss of the young man’s mother, who had changed her life to relocate to Southern California for a good school district for her children.