It’s the most effective way to prevent serious injury or even death in a vehicular crash. And all it takes is a simple click. It’s the decision to wear a seat belt. Despite the efforts of a number of organizations, we at FLF&M continue to witness all too often the tragic results of not buckling up. Deadly automobile crashes continue to be a dark reality in our community because drivers and occupants don’t wear seat belts. Across the country, motor vehicle crashes are the number one killer of teenagers ages 15 to 20. In Florida, it is against the law to not buckle up. Still, 60% of the people who died in passenger vehicle crashes in 2002 were not buckled up. In 2002, 40,149 teenage drivers were involved in traffic crashes in Florida, with 3,557 teens seriously injured and 297 killed. In 2002 in Leon County, there were six traffic fatalities involving teens. To increase seat belt use by young people in our community, FLF&M was once again proud to partner with the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) for the 2004 “Battle of the Belts.” Battle of the Belts, held this past February and March, is a friendly competition between the five local public high schools, Florida State University School (Florida High), and FAMU High School to challenge drivers and passengers to wear their seat belts.

Buckle Up in the Back Seat, Too! According to the vice-chairman of emergency medicine at the University at Buffalo in New York and the university’s Center for Transportation Injury Research, Dr. Dietrich Jehle, research shows that back seat passengers can save lives by buckling up. When a rear passenger sitting directly behind the driver does not fasten his seat belt, he not only triples his chance of dying, but the driver’s chance of injury is increased as well. The impact to a driver’s head is quadrupled by the force of a passenger slamming against him from behind. Research also found that if 95 percent of rear passengers buckled up, they could save 800 lives and prevent more than 65, 000 injuries each year.

The goal of the program is to educate the community, especially high school student drivers, on the importance of buckling up. Officers from the TPD and members of the TPD Community Traffic Watch conducted random seat belt surveys of vehicles entering and leaving these school campuses. The officers conducted the pre-survey before announcing the competition. They returned to the campuses unannounced to survey seat belt usage and determine increased usage.

The Tallahassee Police Department presented FLF&M a Community Partners in Excellence Award in recognition of the firm’s support of Battle of the Belts. Pictured left to right are: Superintendent Bill Montford, FLF&M Partner Jim Messer, FLF&M partner Hal Lewis, Tallahassee Police Chief Walter McNeil, Sgt. Judy Suchocki and Officer David McCraine

"As professionals and parents, this is a very personal issue for our firm,” said partner Jim Messer. “We all agree that adults play a vital role in teaching and reminding young people to always buckle up. This message needs to be consistently reiterated once students are driving on their own and have passengers in their automobiles. This program serves as a very visible reminder of the importance of that message.”

$3,000 Awarded to Schools
The high schools with the “Highest Buckle Up Rate” and the “Most Improved Buckle Up Rate” were each awarded a plaque and a $1,000 check from FLF&M. The $1,000 is designated for direct student-related activities, such as the Junior-Senior Prom or graduation-related activities like Project Graduation. Chiles High School won the award for “Highest Buckle Up Rate” with 91% (4% increase over the pre-survey). Leon High School (84%, an 8% increase over pre-survey) and Godby High School (58%, an 8% increase over the pre-survey) tied for the “Most Improved Buckle Up Rate,” so FLF&M agreed to award both schools $1,000 each. Congratulations to our winners! Though these schools showed a great effort, we aim to have 100% seat belt usage among all drivers.

Chiles High School was awarded $1,000 by FLF&M for having the highest seat belt usage rate in the Battle of the Belts competition. Pictured left to right are: Superintendent Bill Montford, Tallahassee Police Chief Walter McNeil, Chiles High student Misha Dunbar, FLF&M Partner Jim Messer, Chiles High Principal Alan Cox, Officer David McCraine, Chiles High student Holly Grulich and FLF&M partner Hal Lewis.

"The Tallahassee Police Department is honored to again have Fonvielle Lewis Foote & Messer as our partner for this important program. We were most impressed and appreciative when they stepped forward with an additional $1000 cash award to accommodate the tie between Leon and Godby. The firm also generously supports Project Graduation with cash awards to encourage responsible choices among teens. They are truly invested in the safety of our community,” said Sergeant Judy Suchocki of TPD’s Traffic Unit and director of the Battle of the Belts program. While Battle of the Belts is an annual program among high schools, we all need to remember and remind each other to buckle up every single day. No matter your age, we all play a role in preventing these senseless tragedies caused by not wearing seat belts.