A mileage sign on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Photo by Jimmy Emerson
A note from the editor's desk
School is open, let's drive safe
By Brandon Ecoffey
Lakota Country Times Editor
lakotacountrytimes.com With the school year now underway it is important that we all make an effort to keep our reservation roads safe. Almost all of us know somebody who has been lost as a result of a motor vehicle accident. Some, if not most, of these deaths could have been prevented. A report from a 2014 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report showed that Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data showed that in Native American/Alaska Natives ages 1 to 44 adult motor vehicle-related death rates are more than twice that of whites and almost twice that of blacks. A safety belt survey conducted on behalf of the IHSP, showed that the overall rate of seat belt use on reservations is relatively low and varies from reservation to reservation. However, "Reservations with primary seat belt laws have the highest use rates, followed by reservations with secondary seat belt laws; reservations with no seat belt laws have the lowest use rates." The report also showed that 3 out of every 4 of passenger vehicle occupants who died in motor vehicle crashes on reservations were unrestrained at the time of the fatal crash."
Visit the Lakota Country Times and subscribe today
Pine Ridge's seatbelt law is a primary law meaning that an officer only needs to see a driver or passenger not wearing a restraint in order to have reason to pull someone over. For the most part I am against laws that allow for too much interpretation by an officer but seatbelt laws are different in my opinion. There are simply too many people we all care about who could be saved because they had to wear a seatbelt. So as the school year starts let's all make an effort to make our roads safer for everyone by buckling up and discouraging drunk driving in anyway possible. (Brandon Ecoffey is the editor of LCT and is an award winning journalist who was born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.) Find the award-winning Lakota Country Times on the Internet, Facebook and Twitter and download the new Lakota Country Times app today.
Join the Conversation
