[Blind-rollers] seatbelts

[Becky Frankeberger]

Do you all use seatbelts?  I sure do.  Do you make sure it is a four point
tie down?  I sure do as someone forgot and I bounced backwards nearly
tipping me backwards.  Do you do a lap and shoulder belt?  I do as I had to
hold on for dear life as the van stopped kind of suddenly. Or is equal
treatment more important then safety.  If my able bodied counterparts do not
have to use seatbelts or four point tie downs why should I, according to Lex
in the article..  

What do you all think of "equal treatment.

Becky and Jake 

Bus seat belt laws mostly exclude wheelchairs
By JOHN SEEWER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TOLEDO, Ohio -- Lonnie Acton's lifeless body sat in a wheelchair fastened to
the
floor of a mangled minibus. No shoulder or lap belt protected him.
Those restraints, attached to the bus, are specially made to secure
passengers in
their wheelchairs. They weren't being used when a tractor-trailer slid
across a snowy
highway and slammed into the bus in January, killing Acton and two other
residents
of a special-needs center in western Ohio.
While federal law requires buses to be equipped with straps that lock down
wheelchairs,
as well as seat belts and shoulder harnesses to secure passengers
themselves, laws
in Ohio and most states don't require that people in wheelchairs on small
buses and
vans actually wear the seat belts - even though they're vulnerable to
injuries from
being tossed around in an accident.
"It just doesn't make any sense," said Acton's stepfather, Steve Hoessli.
"If they're
required to have restraints, why aren't they required to use them?"
A review by The Associated Press of seat belt laws in all states found just
five
- Arkansas, Georgia, Minnesota, Washington and Wisconsin - that require both
wheelchairs
and their users to be secured on paratransit buses that help people in
wheelchairs
to travel to work, doctor's offices and shopping centers.
Just a handful of other states require seat belt use for wheelchairs, with
some exceptions.
Oregon requires buckling up on commercial buses with less than 16 seats but
says
nothing about floor restraints. New Jersey limits its requirements to
passenger cars
and vans. North Carolina's law doesn't mention wheelchairs, but a state
police spokesman
said the rules cover nearly all vehicles.
It's not known how many people riding in wheelchairs are injured in vehicle
accidents
because little data are available.
University of Michigan researchers have found 52 auto crashes involving
wheelchairs
during the past three years. While not a comprehensive list, the accident
data show
that simply strapping a wheelchair to the floor of a bus or van wasn't
enough protection.
In most of the crashes the wheelchairs were secured. However, seat belts
weren't
always used or fastened the right way, and in some instances, people slid
from under
lap belts and were injured.
"By and large, many of these injuries are preventable if the restraints had
been
used, or used properly," said Gina Bertocci, a professor who works in
wheelchair
transportation safety at the University of Louisville.
A survey of wheelchair users who ride on public and private transportation
found
in 2007 that one in seven never used restraints, mainly because drivers
didn't take
time or know how to secure their wheelchairs and lap belts, according to
Easter Seals
Project Action, a program that helps the disabled with transportation.
"I've seen drivers who drop off the kids and they're in a hurry so they
don't take
time for each chair," said Margaret Griscti, of North Brunswick, N.J., whose
son,
Stephen, broke his leg when his wheelchair tipped over in a vehicle.
That accident nearly 10 years ago and other crashes led to New Jersey's 2008
law,
which includes fines for violators.
Acton's relatives hope Ohio lawmakers now will take another look at their
state's
seat belt laws.
Crash investigators were surprised, too, that seat belts aren't required for
people
in wheelchairs. "I guess I thought there would be something," said State
Highway
Patrol Lt. Craig Cvetan.
There's no guarantee restraints would have saved Acton, a 28-year-old born
with spina
bifida, because he died of multiple injuries. The only thing keeing him in
his seat
was a strap designed to help him sit up, not protect him in an accident.
His stepfather pointed out that Acton was in the back of the bus and that
most of
the damage was up front. A man in a wheelchair across from Acton survived
even though
he, too, did not have lap and shoulder belts.
The bus driver also died, and six passengers were injured. Three of the
survivors
had on lap belts, according to accident reports.
Two employees on the bus told investigators that they usually attached the
lap and
shoulder belts for passengers in wheelchairs, but not always, and that they
didn't
know who secured Acton before the accident.
Administrators at the Creative Learning Workshop in Springfield, Ohio, which
operated
the bus, referred all questions to the company's attorney, Steve Freeze, who
did
not return messages seeking comment.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the decision on whether to use
the safety
restraints on buses and paratransit vans is left up to the wheelchair users
and bus
operators. The law says passengers riding on buses in wheelchairs can be
told to
buckle up only if everyone else aboard must wear a seat belt.
The law sets out to treat people with disabilities the same as anyone else,
said
Lex Frieden, a former head of the National Council on Disability who helped
draft
the ADA in the mid-1980s.
"If we're not going to require the general public to wear seat belts on
buses, we
shouldn't require people with disabilities," he said. "Clearly, one could
argue we
need to look after the well-being of the people using these vehicles, but
that leads
us to a patronizing approach."
Some operators of small buses do require all passengers to be belted,
setting standards
that vary by city, according to interviews with transit managers. And some
transit
operators, especially those that are government-funded, say it's too risky
not to
make everyone buckle up.
"It's a liability issue," said Robert Hiett, who oversees a rural
paratransit service
in Griffin, Ga., that requires seat belts for all. "If we didn't properly
secure
them and there's an accident, we'd get in all kinds of problems. Defending
one lawsuit
could put us out of business."
Larry Schneider, a research professor at the University of Michigan's
Transportation
Research Institute, said he hopes legislation being considered in
Massachusetts will
become a model for other states. The proposal would require wheelchairs and
users
to be secured on all paratransit buses and vans and require training for
caregivers.
Paula Cieplik and her 35-year-old son, Kenny, of Middleborough, Mass.,
pushed for
the proposal after he was injured in a crash a year ago when the seat belts
holding
him in his wheelchair broke, throwing him out of his seat.
"The people who are most vulnerable aren't protected," she said. "It's
mind-boggling."
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