COMMUNICATION ON TRAFFIC SAFETY A FOCUS OF SPECIAL WORKSHOP HERE

Every person has virtually a 100 percent chance of being in a car accident during his or her lifetime. One out of every 50 people will die in a car crash. More than 400,000 car accidents occur throughout the state of Missouri annually, many of them preventable.

To combat such frightening statistics, a group of law enforcement representatives, emergency medical personnel, trauma unit nurses, day care providers and other concerned citizens addressed the issue of traffic safety at a workshop Tuesday at the Holiday Inn in Cape Girardeau.

The Missouri Division of Highway Safety Traffic Safety Education Workshop team travels throughout the state, hosting educational seminars about driving safety.

A barrage of local speakers Tuesday stressed the need for seat belt use and safety among drivers.

"Seat belts are our best defense against drunk drivers, speeders and careless drivers," said retired Missouri Highway Patrolman George Grazier. "Nothing can be done to save more lives than to simply get people to buckle up their safety belts."

Grazier touted the fact that 141 law enforcement agencies in Missouri received commendation for seat belt use within their districts. "The next closest state was Virginia," Grazier said. "They had 24."

Donna Boardman and Sharee Galenor of the Cape Girardeau Police Department told the group about "Docu-Dramas": staged car accidents where observers can watch first-hand the intensity with which a serious accident is handled by emergency services.

Boardman said that the drama club at Southeast Missouri State University staged one such docu-drama last year. A wrecked car was hauled onto the campus, pushed up against a tree and filled with student actors and actresses covered with blood. At the noon chime of the campus clock, the scene sprung to life.

"We didn't know how the students would react the college group is generally pretty hard to reach," she said. "But when we got started, more and more people came to watch."

Galenor told the group about the Safety Village in Cape Girardeau, where police officers and parks and recreation officials teach bicycle safety measures. Galenor also talked about the traffic safety division's desire to be able to provide helmets for all children to wear while riding bikes at little or no cost.

"We have to prepare the kids properly," Galenor said. "If kids see their friends wearing bicycle helmets, they'll wear them too."

Cathy Magas, the Southeast Missouri Hospital representative to the Cape Girardeau Safe Kids Coalition, stressed the need to have children properly restrained in safety seats while riding in cars.

"Injury is the number one killer of our children," Magas said. "Injuries kill more children than all other diseases and childhood maladies put together."

Magas pointed out that 75 children died in car accidents in Missouri in 1990. More than 50 percent of the children killed were not restrained.

"If you properly restrain your children from the time they are born, by the time they turn 16 that seat belt will be a part of the whole car experience," Magas said.

In January, Cape Girardeau was one of six cities added to the "70 Percent Plus Honor Roll," in recognition of high safety belt usage.

In the coming year, a nationwide seat belt drive will continue, under a slightly different motif. Cities with 70 percent compliance will be awarded a "bronze award," those with 80 percent a "silver award," and for 90 percent and better compliance, a "gold award" will be given.

By far the most moving speaker of the afternoon was Dan Needham, a safety specialist with the workshop program. Needham shared with the group the story of his sister's death at the hands of a drunk driver.

"I'll never forget how she looked strapped to that backboard," Needham said. "She was so swollen ... I wouldn't have recognized her if I hadn't seen the wreckage of her car a few feet away."

Needham urged the group to support state legislation which would require the use of safety belts in pickup trucks, and that would enforce a "refuse and lose" law, taking the driver's license away from anyone who refused a breathalizer test.