DECLINING FATALITIES IN AREA HOPEFULLY A TREND

Declines last year in the number of traffic deaths in both Missouri and Illinois offer encouragement that progress is being made on a number of fronts in efforts to reduce highway fatalities.

Not only are motorists to be commended for their safer driving practices last year, but the legislatures, highway departments and law enforcement agencies of both states deserve credit for measures they have implemented over the years that have helped reduce the fatality counts.

Last week the Missouri Highway Patrol reported that traffic fatalities statewide declined by 75, from 1,088 in 1990 to 1,013 in 1991. Illinois State Police reported traffic deaths in Illinois declined by 124, from 1,568 in 1990 to 1,444 in 1991. In Illinois the 7.9 percent decline was the best on record, police said.

Likewise, traffic deaths declined in the patrol's 13-county Troop E of Southeast Missouri and in the 14-county District 13 of Southern Illinois. In Southeast Missouri, 12 fewer deaths were reported in 1991; in Southern Illinois six fewer were reported.

We offer some thoughts on why fatalities have declined, but first this observation: Missouri long has had a motorcycle helmet law that has proven to be a lifesaver; Illinois for some reason does not. It is hard to believe that two states Illinois and Colorado have not enacted such laws when statistics show that wearing a helmet when riding a motorcycle can save lives. Illinois should adopt a helmet law.

At the top of the list of actions that have contributed to a reduction in serious injuries and deaths on the highways are laws enacted by the legislatures of both states that require the use of seat belts and require that children be in child-restraint seats at all times. As more people see the importance of wearing seat belts and they are more lives will be saved.

In conjunction with seat-belt usage, today's cars, although smaller, are safer than the vehicles of the 1950s and '60s. Cars of today are built to collapse upon impact, thereby absorbing much more of the shock than did the heavy machines of years ago. Although more damage occurs upon impact, chances of surviving in today's cars are greater.

Both states too are zeroing in on building safer highways and making existing highways safer. Guardrails are being added where needed along the interstate system, and two-lane highways are being straightened and widened. A key element of the 6-cent gas tax increase adopted last month by the Missouri General Assembly is to make the state's highway system safer by widening roads. This should help to further reduce injury and death.

People today are more aware of the dangers of drunken driving. Who could estimate the number of serious injuries and deaths that have been averted because a designated driver was behind the wheel of a car that might otherwise be driven by a drunken driver? All levels of law enforcement carry out programs aimed at getting drunk drivers off the roads, and tougher drunk-driving laws have been adopted.

We hope 1991 marks the start of a declining trend in highway deaths for many years to come.