Ohio State Highway Patrol spokespersons frequently weigh in with public announcements concerning the importance of motorists and their passengers wearing seat belts at all times when they are in a vehicle, and they buttress their admonitions with statistics that stress the inordinate number of fatal car accidents involving persons that were not belted.
Two separate accidents in different parts of Ohio this week have sadly added to those statistics.
A crash near Windham Township in Portage County took the lives of two people Tuesday morning, a 23-year-old female driver and her 29-year-old male passenger. The driver turned left in front of a dump truck while traveling on Route 303 and was struck on the passenger side. Neither of the victims was wearing a seat belt. The truck driver, who survived the crash, was properly belted.
Another crash occurred Monday night on Route 37 near Pike Township, in Perry County, when a 19-year-old driver lost control of his vehicle and hit a car approaching from an oncoming lane. The passenger in the car — a 16-year-old girl — died shortly after the accident in a local hospital. The driver is recovering at the Ohio State University Medical Center.
Again, neither the driver nor the fatal accident victim was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. Conversely, both the driver and passenger in the other vehicle were wearing belts. Both escaped the escape without serious injuries.
Related Resource: WYTV News, “Two Killed in Portage Co. Crash” July 5, 2011