Parents whose teenagers were killed in traffic accidents because they were not wearing safety belts made emotional pleas at a state Capitol rally today for passage of a primary seat-belt law in Colorado.
Fighting back tears, Pam Sallee, of Delta, described losing her 17-year-old daughter, Brittney Hudson, when the unbelted teenager, driving alone, lost control of her Toyota Celica and was ejected in a rollover accident just before Thanksgiving.
Drawing on the pain of no longer having the high school senior and top-notch student bounce into the room saying “Hi mom,” Sallee said, “I don’t want to see another family go through this.”
To save lives, she urged Colorado legislators to pass the recently introduced primary seat-belt measure.
A primary law would allow police to stop a vehicle solely because occupants are unbelted. Colorado is one of 27 states that has “secondary” seat-belt enforcement, which means officers can only cite drivers for seat-belt violations if they are stopped for other infractions.
The mothers of two Chatfield High School students who were killed in a February 2003 accident also pleaded for passage of the primary bill.
The victims, 14-year-old Brian Ellsworth, and Caitlyn Craig, 15, were among seven unbelted teens riding with a 16-year-old driver who was traveling between 71 and 79 mph in a 40-mph zone on West Ken Caryl Avenue when she plowed head-on into a van. Another 15-year-old passenger in the car also was killed.
“It’s been nearly three years since he died and I can’t tell you how devastating it’s been,” said Rebecca Ellsworth, Brian’s mother.
She and Suzanne McLeod, Caitlyn’s mother, said they believe both teens would have survived if they were wearing seat belts.
Behind the parents on the Capitol’s west steps, supporters of the primary seat-belt bill had lined up 282 pairs of shoes, to represent the number of those killed in 2004 Colorado traffic accidents who were not wearing safety belts.
Of the 502 drivers and passengers who died that year, 282, or 56 percent, were unbelted, said Alexa Gromko of AAA Colorado and the Colorado Safety Belt Coalition, which is promoting the primary bill. “It’s time to take action and stop this senseless loss.”
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-820-1645 or at jleib@denverpost.com.
