ALTUS - Chances are high that three people who died in vehicle crashes on Jackson and Greer county roads in the past nine days could be alive today had they taken the time to click their seatbelt.
“That's three too many,” said Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Johnnie Freeman on Wednesday as he pondered the loss of life and the pain that the families of the deceased must be feeling.
As commander of Troop M, which covers an area encompassing Jackson, Harmon, Greer, Tillman and Kiowa counties, Freeman assisted in all three of those recent accidents:
- On May 24, a 75-year-old Frederick man died and his 11-year-old grandson was injured when the pickup truck they were traveling in plowed into the side of a Peterbilt truck south of Hobart. Neither of the two was wearing a seatbelt.
- On Monday of this week, a 22-year-old Altus man died when the car he was driving ran off the highway north of Blair and struck a railroad crossing sign. The man was thrown from the vehicle some 30 feet northwest of the point of impact. He was not wearing a seatbelt.
- On Tuesday, an 81-year-old Vernon, Texas, man died Tuesday morning when the pickup truck he was driving ran off a county road south of Altus and struck a road sign. The truck vaulted 146 feet then rolled end over end as it traveled an additional 96 feet, coming to rest on its wheels. He was not wearing a seatbelt.
“I don't like loading dead people,” said Freeman, who began his career with the Highway Patrol in 1984. “I'm getting tired of carrying dead people away.”
Freeman is convinced that the 11-year-old boy who was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Oklahoma City following the May 24 accident south of Hobart would have walked away with minor injuries, if any, had he been belted in. The damage to the pickup truck the boy's grandfather was driving, Freeman said, was all on the left side of the vehicle, not the passenger side. “He would've been home with his mom and dad that night,” he said.
However, when people are not restrained, Freeman explained, the force of the impact can cause major damage to the head, neck and chest area - not to mention being thrown completely from the vehicle as in the case of the young Altus man on Monday.
For at least the past 10 years, Freeman said, the Highway Patrol has had a no tolerance policy when it comes to seatbelt use. But people are quick with excuses. For example, an exemption from seatbelt use is available to farmers who display a special license plate tag on their pickup truck while performing farm related duties.
However, Freeman said, if the driver of that farm vehicle is not using a seatbelt and he or she hits a tree, a post or a sign, “That farm tag's not going to keep them from going through the windshield.”
Exemptions are also given for certain medical conditions, Freeman said, but points out that, again, “It seems like rather than buckle up for safety, people will use any excuse they have. ... Every excuse is a crutch.”
Seatbelt compliance, statistics show, reduce the risk of dying in a rollover accident by up to 80 percent. To put that into perspective, Freeman painted a couple scenarios that Highway Patrol troopers are used to: pulling up to the scene of a rollover accident where the driver - who was wearing a seatbelt - is standing by the car; and pulling up to the scene of a rollover accident where the driver - who was not wearing a seatbelt - is lying horizontal on the ground, either dead or dying.
“A person in a car, if it rolls, they fly around like a rock in a tin can,” Freeman said, adding that the Highway Patrols campaign to get people to “Click It Or Ticket” is not aimed at just trying to pass out tickets for non-compliance. “It's because we're killing people left and right,” he said.
When he first began his job as a trooper some 22 years ago, Freeman said, he watched in amusement when a dispatcher drove into the parking lot in a pickup truck and wearing his seatbelt. He said he thought to himself, “That's kind of a sissy thing to do.”
Now, he said, he and his family never drive anywhere unless they're buckled in. “I have seen over that 20 years that seatbelts will save your life,” he said.
And, he said, although people “don't seem to be getting any smarter,” it is highly advisable that drivers pay close attention to their environment when on the roads. One never knows whether the car being passed or approached is under the control of a person who is impaired or otherwise distracted. And if the other driver is responsible for a bloody collision, Freeman said, “You're going to be just as dead as if it was your fault.”
Freeman pointed out that eight to 10 fatality accidents occur in this district annually, and he makes this request of all: “Wear your seatbelt and pay attention to what's going on.”
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