Just six weeks after the Governor of New Jersey suffered a near-fatal car crash while not wearing his seltbelt, the President of the United States also neglected to buckle up.
According to video surveillance cameras, George W. Bush wasnt wearing his seatbelt while giving a tour of his Texas ranch to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
Although wearing a seltbelt is not required on private property in Texas, the president is widely considered a role model whose habits are often copied.
To compound the felony, the Bush blunder came just a day after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched its "Click It Or Ticket" campaign, an annual educational push backed by $30 million in national and state advertising that coincides with the long Memorial Day weekend. Automobile traffic traditionally peaks during the warm-weather months before Memorial Day and Labor Day.
On April 12, unbelted New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a former U.S. Senator, suffered multiple fractures when his speeding SUV hit a guardrail on the Garden State Parkway. He is still recovering.
Corzine, who said the incident changed his life, has since become the poster-boy for seatbelt compliance. Bush, who praised seatbelt usage in a health and fitness report published five years ago, might have joined him.
The 2002 Bush report said seatbelts save 10,000 lives per year. That figure is greatly increased when airbags are added to the equation.
Seatbelt usage is most critical at night, according to the NHTSA, because accidents are three times more likely to occur after dark.
In Texas, all drivers and front-seat passengers must wear seltbelts, along with all passengers under age 17. Private roads, including the states many miles of ranchlands, are exempt.
Special events at Texas landmarks, from the Alamo to the Fort Worth Stockyards, are promoting the "Click It Or Ticket" campaign, which ends June 3.
The American Automobile Association anticipates a 1.7 per cent increase in the number of Memorial Day weekend car trips in excess of 50 miles. The AAA says seatbelts will save many lives and limbs that could otherwise be destroyed in crashes.
