Posted on August 31, 2010 by Frank Dito

Tragic Crash Claims the Life of Two Young Staten Islanders

A tragic car crash early Sunday morning took the lives of 19 year old Daniel Peluso of Great Kills and 20 year old Jeffrey Capretta of Woodrow and injured 4 others. Apparently, a Nissan Altima owned by Peluso was being driven by one of the car''s occupants at the time of the accident. The 6, of which only 2 were of the legal drinking age, were coming from the Clubhouse Lounge, a bar on Arthur Kill Road. The car, estimated to be going almost 90 m.p.h., fishtailed and wrapped around a utility pole, ejecting two people from the car.

I can't imagine losing a child and the pain that their families are going through right now is unbearable. My condolences go out to the Peluso and Capretta families in their time of mourning. I hope that the other occupants of the car are not seriously injured and recover quickly, although the mental pain and anguish that they have suffered will most likely never go away.

For those of you that are reading this blog post, please always wear your seat belts, wherever you are sitting in a car. Its not known if seat belt use could have prevented the tragedy that occurred that night but statistics have shown that seat belts save lives; its not open for argument anymore. Don't drink and drive and don't get into a car driven by anyone who has been drinking. It is yours or your child's life that can be at risk. Make sure that they know the dangers. I am not naive enough to believe that we can stop underage drinking but we can make sure that our children know the consequences.

Our children need to be made aware of what can happen when driving a car, without the tragic examples that have become all too common on Staten Island. Speeding, drinking while driving, running red lights and other reckless behavior seems to be an all too common occurrence on Staten Island. Please speak to your children about driving. The conversation that you have with them just may save a life. Do it today before its too late.

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Posted on August 6, 2010 by Frank Dito

Isn't it Time We Put Seat Belts On School Buses?

The reports of a fatal accident yesterday on Interstate 44 in Missouri brings the debate about putting seat belts on school buses to the forefront. Missouri law does not require seat belts to be installed on school buses and it is not yet known if seat belts would have even helped.The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is on the scene to investigate.

The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences released a June 2002 study  (pdf) that attributed the deaths of 5 school aged children per year as passengers. The study only took into account "normal school hours", which means that it covers only 6 hours per day and only through the school year, September 1 through June 15. To me, this study is flawed as those killed in the Missouri bus crash would not have even been included in these statistics. Even the times that were included in the study excluded 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., a time that includes when most children are on their way to a field trip, usually at some distance from their school. The children in Missouri were on their way to Six Flags Amusement Park and were required to take a highway, where they are exposed to higher speeds and larger, heavier traffic as opposed to residential streets at relatively low speeds.

Many Staten Island parents don't think twice about putting their children on a school bus. And most parents wouldn't put their children into their car without a Child Safety Seat or properly restrained with a lap/shoulder belt. Yet New York law requires seat belts on school buses, but not their use. Instead, they allow school bus passive restraints, known as "compartmentalization", to protect the precious cargo. The bus passenger compartment itself is higher than most of the surrounding traffic, the seat backs are raised and padded and the bus' shell is reinforced. This compartmentalization help to provide "passive" restraint, which simply allows a child to sit down in the seat to be protected. This type of restraint is very effective in frontal impact crashes, but not in a rollover or side impact.

If seat belts were to be installed in a bus, it would have to be a lap/shoulder belt as a lap alone would cause significant abdominal injuries.The cost to retrofit a bus, if possible, would average $1,000.00, BUT would reduce the passenger capacity by 20%. In these budget crunching times, it always comes down to numbers; essentially, how much is a life worth compared to the cost of saving one. As a parent, I know that I couldn't put a price on my child's safety. Maybe its time we look to make our children's bus rides safer and install seat belts and not look to cut costs at safety's expense.

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