It's Time For a Talk On Seat Belts

Elaine Alston-Hill consoled her son's grieving schoolmates, hugging dozens of them as they arrived for his funeral. William Thomas III leaned into his son's casket, whispering last words. And when the memorial service for 16-year-old Tavonne Antonio Alston began, the parents collapsed into their seats as if the life had been drained from them as well.

Tavonne was one of four La Plata High School students killed Nov. 6 when their car veered into the path of an SUV. A fifth passenger, Markus Allen, 16, was critically injured. If you have a child who drives or rides in cars with friends, you can probably imagine the heartache more than most. Over two weeks, parents lost 10 teenagers in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs to car crashes. There but for the grace of God go I.

After the crash that killed Tavonne, Jonathan Chapman, 16, Dionnte Swinson, 15, and Donte Segar, 14, I asked my 18-year-old son, once again, whether he wears a seat belt. African American youngsters 13 to 19 have the worst record of any group when it comes to buckling up. Consequently, they are more likely to be killed when involved in a car crash.

My son told me that he wears a seat belt. Seven of the 10 youngsters who died recently were not wearing seat belts, and they probably told their parents the same thing.

A recent study by Meharry Medical College in Memphis found that African American male teenagers are fatally injured in car crashes at nearly twice the rate of white teenagers. And the circumstances surrounding the crash that took the lives of those four boys are part of a pattern that traffic fatality experts see time and again.

"We know that black teenaged males are more likely to be in a car in groups than white teen males, which may speak to peer pressure not to buckle up because it isn't cool," said Irwin Goldzweig, an epidemiologist at Meharry who has studied the problem. "We also know that black teens in urban areas tend to drive shorter distances, which may account for why they don't feel the need to use seat belts."

Hundreds of teenagers attended Tavonne's memorial service last week at Union Bethel AME Church in Brandywine. Many arrived in cars driven by their peers. The presiding preachers gave fine sermons.

"We're living in a fast age; things can happen so quickly," James M. Briscoe, a bishop at Free Gospel Church of Bryans Road, said in his eulogy. "People traveling at such speed, passing you on the shoulder if they think you are driving too slow. You don't have to be that way. King Solomon said don't let the excitement of being young cause you to forget about your creator. You have a choice. Choose life."

But while parents nodded in agreement, some teens began to yawn. I later asked Nathaniel Briggs, another epidemiologist at Meharry, if the deaths of these four popular students would be likely to result in more seat belt use among their peers.

"The data suggests that teens are much more affected if they know someone who has been seriously injured in a crash rather than killed," Briggs said. "To them, the idea of being confined to a wheelchair for the rest of their lives is more ominous than death."

About a dozen teenagers took turns speaking about how much they miss the boys and how respected and admired they were. But I wanted to know whether anyone had bothered to tell friends to wear seat belts and to drive more carefully.

"It looks like the enemy always takes the ones with promise," Briscoe told them.

But there was no enemy, just Chapman, an inexperienced teenager with too many friends in the car, apparently speeding when he lost control of the vehicle. None was wearing a seat belt.

"Spend as much time with your children as you can," Thomas, Tavonne's father, told the mourners. "You never know when they will go."

Talk to them about seat belts, too. We can all use a little more time.

E-mail: milloyc@washpost.com