Last modified: Friday, April 13, 2007 10:58 AM PDT A 77-year-old passenger who was unbelted in the backseat of this vehicle died March 20 around 10:55 a.m. after this SUV rolled along U.S. Highway 20 east of Burns, and the victim was partially ejected through the sunroof. Five people died in 2007 between February and March in roll-over crashes in Eastern Oregon, and none of them were wearing their seat belts, according to an Oregon State Police powerpoint presentation released Thursday. Report outlines synergy between deaths and failure to use seat belts By Andy Gates - Argus Observer ONTARIO - Five people have died so far this year in four vehicle roll-over crashes in Eastern Oregon and none were wearing their seatbelts, according to a powerpoint exhibit released Thursday by the Oregon State Police. The police presentation is titled with a question, “Is seat belt enforcement important in 2007?” Area police agree the answer to that question is an overwhelming “yes.” This year’s unbelted fatalities include a 5-year-old, three teenagers and a 77-year-old, who all died between February and March. “Five dead in two months, all were potentially survivable if the occupants were properly restrained,” according to the Oregon State Police report. Those deaths included: a 16-year-old driver Feb. 3 at 11:50 p.m. along Interstate 84 just west of Baker City; two 17-year-old passengers Feb. 6 along U.S. Highway 395 north of Lakeview; a five-year-old Feb. 26 at 12:43 a.m. on U.S. Highway 95 near Jordan Valley; and a 77-year-old passenger March 20 around 10:55 a.m. along U.S. Highway 20 east of Burns, according to the OSP report. Seat belt use was once a minor issue, but a boost regarding safety awareness during the past 20 years changed that. For example, Ontario Police Chief Mike Kee said he remembers when he was a child, his mother would drive him unrestrained while he stood on the front seat of her vehicle. “I’m from an era where we didn’t wear seatbelts,” Kee said. Oregon State Police Lt. Rich Pileggi recalled similar childhood memories. “We had a ’67 or ’68 VW bug with a stand up top and we used to stand in the backseat and look up out the top . . . We used to ride in the back of pickup trucks,” Pileggi said. Attitudes and knowledge regarding traffic safety, though, are now different, and Pileggi and Kee believe strongly in the life-saving powers of seat belts, they said. The seat belt fine in Oregon is $97, Ontario Police Capt. Mark Alexander said. “Adults pay the price in injuries or paying citations. The little ones don’t have that option. They are along for the ride, and hopefully they are belted in so they can continue to ride,” Pileggi said. Even so, Kee said he was a tough sell during the early days of Oregon seat belt law evolution. “When the legislature told us we had to wear seatbelts, I wasn’t actually for it because in this line of work you have to get in and out of a car fast. We just bitched and moaned about it,” Kee said. Those days are gone, though, and Kee is now a staunch proponent of seat belts, he said. “I am firm believer in seat belts,” Kee said. “This is really important to me, you can ask my kids.” And, Pileggi said, “For the most part seat belts save lives, the statistics are there.” Some people often assert they do not want to wear seat belts because they would be confined and that could promote injury or death — however, police disagree. “There’s always that argument — people don’t want to be trapped inside of a car,” Malheur County Undersheriff Brian Wolfe said. However, Wolfe said, “In reality that’s not a good argument. You’re better off in a protected area than being thrown from an area. Occasionally, people who are safety belted in do die, but most likely those people would have died anyway. Safety belts save lives and often times reduce injuries,” Wolfe said. For example, the March rollover that killed a 77-year-old back-seat passenger could have been prevented with a seat belt, police said, because the unbelted victim was thrown partially through the sunroof of a rolling vehicle. “The vehicle that rolled in Burns where a 77-year-old man was asleep in the back seat of a new vehicle, equipped with numerous air bags — had that person been seat-belted in — he would have survived,” Pileggi said. The accident, though serious, was survivable, Pileggi said. “Since he was not belted in, he was partially ejected through the sunroof, and during the rolling he was killed,” Pileggi said. Aside from the emotional costs associated with vehicular injuries and death, there are also monetary dues society pays, police said. The five unbelted deaths in 2007’s four roll-over crashes came at a societal cost of $4.8 million, according to the OSP powerpoint presentation. If seatbelts were always worn, Alexander said, “there are costs associated with death and injuries that wouldn’t have to happen.” With stricter legislation, though, and an increased emphasis by police, more people in Oregon are apparently wearing their seatbelts, according to state statistics. Oregon’s crash fatality and injury rates have each dropped 43 percent since the adult belt law was passed in 1990, and Oregon has become one of the top five belt use states in the country, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Safety Division. Wolfe said a survey of safety belt use in January in Malheur County revealed 96 percent compliance, out of 100 vehicles. “But 96 percent doesn’t mean anything if someone you know or care about gets killed in an accident. There’s always room for improvement even though the (seat-belt compliance) rate is high,” Wolfe said.