Menu
- New nursing home rules threaten rural communities (4/23/24)
- Human wages, robot purchases in lock-step (4/11/24)
- Heed the call for caution this year in road work zones (4/9/24)
- This year, heed the call for caution in highway work zones (4/9/24)
- Railroad safety should not be left to contract negotiations (4/5/24)
- Rejecting LB764 upholds fairness in Nebraska (4/4/24)
- A wake-up call for young adults: Get your cancer checkups (4/2/24)
Editorial
Let's work to reverse rural accident trends
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
School consolidation has been a fact of life in rural Nebraska for decades, and while there are budgetary advantages, families pay the price through increased travel, whether by school bus or private car.
Unfortunately, that travel can be dangerous and is getting worse in rural Nebraska, according to AAA Nebraska.
During the first nine months of 2011, 97 people died in rural Nebraska. The following year, 118 died in crashes and by 2013, the death toll had climbed to 124 men, women and children. So far this year, 132 people have been killed on rural roads, and we have three months to go.
Tragically, many of those deaths could have been prevented had drivers and passengers only buckled their seatbelts.
And, we suspect alcohol, fatigue and distracted driving -- texting -- probably played a part in a majority.
The latter, often a temptation for the most inexperienced drivers, such as students as young as 14 driving on school permits, can have devastating results.
While it's sad when drivers crash because of their own negligence, it's even worse when infants and toddlers are injured because of the negligence of those entrusted with their care.
Every 34 seconds, the NHTSA reports, a child under the age of 13 is involved in a car crash, and more than a third of children killed in crashes were not in car seats or wearing seat belts.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hopes to make travel safer for children by launching a new mobile app to give caregivers and parents information about selecting the right car seat, installation assistance and product recall warnings.
An updated version of the SafeCar.gov app is available for both Apple and Android mobile devices.
Community Hospital in McCook also offers car seat set ups for new parents, and conducts regular "Buckle Up Baby!" car seat events. Call (308) 344-8525 for more information.
Most of us who live in rural Nebraska wouldn't change the lifestyle for anything, but we shouldn't have to sacrifice safety in order to travel to work or school. Let's make every effort possible to make those trips as uneventful as we can.