Five Killed in Louisiana Crash on I-10

A GMC Safari driven by Mona Hines blew a tire, hit a delivery truck and flipped over on I-10, killing herself and four children. There were a total of 13 children and two adults in the minivan at the time of the crash. Police speculate that the tire blew because the minivan was overweight. All 13 children were thrown from the van because they were not wearing seat belts. In addition to the driver, state police identified the children who died as 2 year old Ricky Hines Jr., 12 year old Lachante Floyd, 14 year old Edward Barnes, and 14 year old Ashley Hines. Seven other children are in critical condition. Mona Hines, the driver, and Stacey Hines, the front passenger, were the only ones wearing seat belts in the minivan. The driver of the delivery truck was not injured.

Ironically, the state of Louisiana passed a law earlier this year requiring all passengers in a vehicle wear a seat belt. The law went into effect on August 15, 2009. John LeBlanc, executive director of the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, said in an article on nola.com, "a recent survey indicated that fewer than one-third of back-seat riders buckle up. In 2008, there were 55 fatalities involving rear-seat passengers and 33 were not wearing belts. In 2007, 58 rear-seat passengers died in accidents, and 42 were not wearing the safety belts." The law also requires that children 13 years and younger be restrained with some sort of child safety seat that meets the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. Passengers who disobey this law can be fined $25 for a first offense and $50 for a second offense.

The Louisiana State Police posted an article on their website as to why wearing a seat belt is so important. It said that every time there is a crash, three types of collision happen: the vehicle collision, the human collision, and the internal collision. The vehicle collision obviously happens when the vehicle hits a stationary object and comes to a stop in a split second. The human collision is when the person in the vehicle comes to a stop after the vehicle does. When the car stops, the people in the car are hurled forward until they hit something or someone in the car. The internal collision is when the organs inside a body hit against something hard, like bone, and stop. This last collision is what causes death or serious injury.

How many seconds does it take to put on a seat belt? It could be those seconds that determine life or death.

Sources:

http://www.wapt.com/news/21753203/detail.html

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/05/senate_panel_oks_seatbelt_law.html

http://www.lsp.org/pdf/troopcseatbelt.pdf