Sherburne County has lowest unbelted fatality rate
by Jeffrey Hage, Princeton Union-Eagle – Traffic fatalities involving people not wearing seatbelts are among the lowest in the state in Sherburne County, according to results of a study released last week by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS).
Twenty people died in traffic fatalities in Sherburne between 2008-2010, a just four of those people were not wearing seatbelts. The 20 percent unbelted percentage ties Blue Earth County for the lowest percentage rate in Minnesota, according to the DSP. In Blue Earth County, there were 10 traffic fatalities in the 2-year period and two of those fatalities involved people not wearing seatbelts.
During 2008–2010 in Minnesota, there were 932 vehicle occupants killed in traffic crashes and 409 were not buckled up. That’s 44 percent, according to DPS data.
Kanabec and Wadena counties each had three traffic fatalities during the study period and each victim failed to wear a seatbelt. The 100-percent unbelted rate led Minnesota counties.
The DPS named 20 counties with the highest percentages of unbelted traffic deaths following a statewide seat belt enforcement campaign, Oct. 14–27. Rounding out the Top 20 were the counties of: Redwood, 83; Lac qui Parle, 80; Brown, 75; Martin, 69; Itasca, 67; Aitkin, 67; Pennington, 67; Yellow Medicine, 67; Wilkin, 67; Rice, 64; Winona, 63; Hubbard, 63; Mower, 60; Olmsted, 58; Isanti, 58; Goodhue, 57; Morrison, 57 and Mahnomen, 57. There were 8 traffic fatalities in Mille Lacs County between 2008-10 and four of those victims failed to wear seatbelts for a 50 percent rate.
During the October seatbelt enforcement campaign, 260 reporting agencies cited more than 10,000 motorists for belt violations, the DPS stated.
“We’ve made great progress to improve the state’s seat belt use, yet in many parts of the state motorists are making the poor choice to travel unbelted, and they are paying the ultimate price for taking that risk,” says Donna Berger, acting director of the DPS Office of Traffic Safety.
