Large-van riders at higher risk
By Dee-Ann Durbin
Associated Press
• Be particularly careful when driving at more than 50 mph or around curves. • Vans are at increased risk when 10 or more passengers are on board because they're more likely to roll over. Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
WASHINGTON — People riding in 15-passenger vans are less likely to wear seat belts, putting themselves at greater risk if the van crashes, federal regulators said yesterday.
Safety tips for drivers
In a new study of 15-passenger van crashes between 1990 and 2002, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that three-quarters of the 684 people killed in single-vehicle crashes weren't wearing a seat belt. Fourteen percent were wearing them.
More than half of those killed — 414 — were partially or totally ejected from the van. Almost 90 percent of those who were ejected weren't wearing seat belts.
NHTSA said people riding in 15-passenger vans — which are banned for use by schools but are often used by churches, colleges and prisons — are tied with pickup truck passengers as the least likely to wear seat belts.
The study was released two days after a fiery van crash that killed three members of a New York church group near Niagara Falls. Two of the three weren't wearing seat belts, Ontario police said. The van was carrying 12 people when it crashed.
In all, 1,111 people died in 15-passenger van crashes between 1990 and 2002. But NHTSA said it only analyzed single-vehicle crashes.
