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Troopers busy on Independence Day
Published Monday, July 6, 2009
The Fourth of July weekend can be counted in numbers — 68 hot dogs eaten by champ Joey Chestnut in the Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog eating contest, number of fireworks that lit up the dark sky and how many family members showed up for the reunion.
However the Alabama State Troopers have a very different set of numbers for the weekend. Their list includes three wrecks that the agency investigated. Two occurred on Sunday — one in Marion County and the other in Pike County. Both initial reports point to alcohol as the likely cause as well as not wearing seat belts and speeding.
The other wreck, which happened Friday morning, took the life of a Valley Grande man.
“Mr. Donnie Kelly and a passenger, Daniel Kelly, 23, were involved in an accident three miles outside of Oak Hill in Wilcox County,” Trooper John Reese said. “The accident occurred Friday at 8:59 a.m. It appears that Mr. Kelly was driving southbound on Alabama 21 and lost control. He attempted to bring the vehicle back on to the road and lost control again.”
The attempt to correct resulted in the vehicle overturning several times. During the wreck Kelly was ejected from the vehicle.
“The initial report shows that fatal injuries were caused from Mr. Kelly being thrown out of the car,” Reese said. “Daniel Kelly, the passenger, was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.”
Alcohol is not suspected as the cause of the accident. Reese said the signs point initially to possible speeding and not wearing a seat belt.
For the holiday weekend in 2008, 16 people died in car wrecks in Alabama. At least three of the deaths were alcohol-related and 11 of the crash victims were not using seat belts.
Alabama State Troopers arrested 152 people and charged them with driving under the influence during the 2009 Fourth of July weekend. That number included the seven people arrested in Dallas County.
Troopers also issued 3,004 speeding citations, 1,094 tickets for seat belt violations, 84 tickets for child restraint violations and assisted 157 motorists.
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Comments
Posted by Liberty (anonymous) on July 7, 2009 at 6:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Not wearing safety belts does NOT cause wrecks - it does, however, cause death if you wreck and aren't wearing one.
Wear your safety belt for SAFETY, not because our militarized and compartmentalized law enforcement is power-hungry and ticket-happy.
Be safe because you WANT to be - not because of an unconstitutional law.
Posted by bama (anonymous) on July 7, 2009 at 2:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
A seatbelt has saved my life on two occasions. I never ride or drive in a car without one. I think if everyone had to see the horific accidents that troopers have to constantly see, they would push for everyone to wear a seatbelt as well.
Posted by Liberty (anonymous) on July 8, 2009 at 9:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I've worn a seat belt since I was old enough to be strapped into one. I've been in car accidents and luckily, I was wearing a seat belt. I, too, have seen horrific wrecks. I've seen wrecks where people weren't wearing a seat belt and were thrown from vehicles and where they killed a passenger because their body was a basically a weapon. There are also wrecks where people are trapped by their seat belts and they burn alive, drown or get hit by another vehicle before they can get out.
But that's not even my argument. My argument is that YOU should CHOOSE whether or not you wear a seat belt. The law should NOT FORCE you to do so. It's not up to them, just like it's not up to them to force you to take medicine when you are sick, stay away from sweets if you are diabetic or exercise if you are overweight.
I do not want or need the government dictating how I live my life and I'm pretty sure that there are plenty more people who agree with that.
NO MORE NANNY GOVERNMENT - NO MORE NANNY LAWS.
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