Deadly Nevada crash fuels push to get minorities to buckle up

Sunday, May 19, 2002 | 11:23 a.m.

RENO, Nev. AP) - A crash that killed five members of a Utah family on Interstate 80 near here last week is fueling a new push to get minority groups to buckle up.

The effort comes as statistics from the National Safe Kids Campaign show minority children are more likely to die in traffic accidents than their white counterparts.

It also coincides with a statewide program by Nevada law enforcement agencies that stresses the use of seat belts and car seats for children. Beginning Monday, motorists no longer will be given verbal warnings, but will be cited for violations.

None of the eight members of the Meza-Arriaga family from West Jordan, Utah, was wearing a safety belt when their minivan was struck head-on by a suspected drunken driver May 13 near Wadsworth, 25 miles east of Reno.

The crash killed driver Fernando Meza-Arriaga's three children, ages 9, 3 and 9 months. It also killed his sister and 4-year-old niece. His wife and a second niece remain hospitalized.

Andres Torres, 15, of Sparks, said the accident shows the importance of buckling up. He works weekends with the Hispanic Youth Image group to teach parents about the value of car seats and seat belts.

"I don't want to hear about (I-80 crash details) because I am working hard to protect children," Torres told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "I have younger siblings and that's enough for me to try and reach out to others, so that my siblings and other children don't end up dead."

The I-80 accident shows the need to strengthen seat belt outreach efforts, said Jesse Gutierrez, director of Nevada Hispanic Services.

"But we're not very progressive at all," he said. "Everything has been by the wayside. The community reaches out to the Latino community when unfortunate things happen, then we become informed.

"This (seat belt and car seat use) is something that needs to be reiterated over and over. The only thing that helps is when tragic incidents like these occur," Gutierrez said.

Eric Guevin, spokesman for the Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority in Reno, said traffic accidents are the leading killers of children in the United States.

He heads the local Safe Kids Campaign, which trained Torres and other Hispanic Youth Image members how to properly install car seats. Most car seats are improperly installed, Guevin said.

"Seat belts and car seats save lives, period," Guevin said. "We need the public to protect themselves. If these (Meza (Arriaga)- children were properly restrained, we would have had a different outcome. When children are not in car seats or properly restrained, they are ejected and they die."

According to the National Safe Kids Campaign, the traffic accident death rate for Hispanic children ages 5 to 12 is 72 percent higher than the rate for non-Hispanic children.

Black and American Indian children are three times more likely to be killed in traffic accidents than their white counterparts.