By Jolene Farley
A seatbelt sting on April 30 at Hills-Beaver Creek High School found only 47 of 122 people wearing their seatbelts.
That comes to 39 percent compared with the statewide average of 72-percent seatbelt usage in rural areas.
Rock County Collaborative representative Paula Anderson, with the help of High School Administrator Steve Wiertzema and students Becky Broesder and Brittney Olson, randomly stopped 71 cars Tuesday morning as they entered the Hills-Beaver Creek campus from four directions.
The 122 passengers in the vehicles were students, teachers and parents. Students wearing seatbelts were rewarded with a free beverage and entry into a drawing for prizes.
Those passengers not wearing seatbelts were reminded of the dangers of not wearing a seatbelt.
"When this idea surfaced, I was very na•ve, I thought almost everyone wore their seatbelts. It's such an easy habit," said Anderson. "Now I see that we have some serious work to do. We need to set better examples as adults and not just wear our seatbelts when we're out on the interstate."
A similar sting in Luverne found 286 people out of 573, or one-third of the people in 481 cars, wearing seatbelts.
Collaborative members and peer helpers checked all vehicles entering the Luverne High School campus at three points of entry.
Luverne Drivers Education instructor Craig Nelson reminded drivers and passengers of accident statistics.
"The impact of not wearing a seatbelt in a 30 mph crash is the same as falling head first off a three-story building," Nelson said.
Every hour someone in the United States dies simply because they did not wear a seatbelt.
Wearing a seatbelt reduces the risk of dying in a traffic accident by 60 percent, and traffic crashes are the No. 1 cause of death among teen-agers.
In 2000, only 15 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds killed in car crashes were reported as wearing seatbelts.
Nelson, the Rock County Collaborative and Nobles Rock Public Health organized the Hills and Luverne stings. Local auto insurance companies, local businesses and Coca Cola donated prizes for seatbelt wearers.
Seatbelt safety checks will be repeated later this year in Hills and Luverne to determine if the safety checks changed behavior in the communities.