University Daily Kansan, February 22, 1985
CAMPUS AND AREA
Page 8
Panels hear seat belt debate
By NANCY HANEY and MICHAEL TOTTY Staff Reporters
TOPEKA — Seat belts save lives and the state should require their use. proponents of mandatory safety belt bills told Kansas House and Senate committees yesterday.
The two identical bills would require passengers in automobiles to safety belts or be subject to a minimum fine of $25.
The Senate Transportation and Utilities Committee heard testimony from both opponents and proponents of the bill and will hear more this morning.
Branson, who is scheduled to testify today before the Senate panel, said car accidents were the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 5 and 35. But only about 7 per cent of Kansas drivers used their seat belts.
SHE SAID THE fatality rate in auto accidents was five times greater for those who did not use seat belts.
The House Transportation Committee heard only from supporters of the House bill, sponsored by State Rep. Jessie Branson, D-Lawrence. Testimony from opponents of the bill is schedule for Thursday, Feb. 28.
Last July, the U.S. Transportation Department issued an order requiring 10 percent of new cars manufactured in the 1987 model year to be equipped with some kind of passive restraint system, such as air bags or automatic seat belts. The requirement would be phased in until all 1990 model-year cars had passive restraint systems.
Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole said the rule would be waived if states containing two-thirds of the population would pass mandatory seat belt laws. The state's laws have to meet certain criteria to qualify.
The department said the seat belt laws had to require a minimum $25 fine, which could include court costs. The laws must also include a mitigation of damages provision, which could reduce or double injuries to damages for those injured in auto accidents while not wearing seat belts.
IN HER TESTIMONY, Branson proposed amendments to the House bill. One amendment would make the driver of a vehicle responsible for guaranteeing that front seat passengers younger than 14 years old buckle up.
Bill Henry, a representative of the Highway Users Conference, said requiring seat belts would be simple and easy to install. The cars in Kansas already had them.
"Although Kansas has one of the safest highway systems in the country, we could do more for only two seconds time to buckle up," he said.
Another amendment proposed by Branson would place a $25 limit on fines for violating the seat belt law.
A majority of the speakers before the Senate committee favored enactment of the bill. The House panel heard from nearly 20 supporters.
BOB SMITH. A representative of the Kansas Engineering Society, said the argument that the government shouldn't require wearing seal belts
ment ended up paying for health care costs of persons who were injured in accidents because they weren't wearing seat belts. Because more serious accidents occurred when seat belts weren't used, insurance rates go up for everyone.
He said that too often the govern-
"Eventually the government does have an issue in this," he said.
Norman Sherbert, representing General Motors Corp., told the House committee that the public would be more likely to buy new cars than that which he used of seat belts than pay the added cost of new equipment, such as air bags.
"PEOPLE DO NOT want to pay for safety devices," Sherbert said. "No matter how much equipment we put in a car, they won't use it unless there is a law."
Dan Likens, representing the Kansas Head Injury Association, spoke in favor of mandatory seat belt laws in general, but asked that the section disallowing collection of damages be removed from the bills.
If a driver not wearing a seat belt was hit by a car driven by a drunken driver, Likens said, the person not wearing the seat belt might not be able to collect any damages.
LIKENS FAVORS A seat belt law without the mitigation provision but with the federal air bag law.
"The drunk would get off scot free." Likens said.
Likens said he thought air bags were safer than seat belts. He counted one accident that occurred in 1978, in which a man who was not wearing a seat belt had a head-on accident, but was uninjured because his car was equipped with air bags.
Students to fight hunger with fast
By HEATHER R. BIGGINS Staff Reporter
The cause is eliminating world hunger, a crisis that claims eight lives every minute.
The sausage pizza and chef's salad on Saturday night will be tempting, but some Oliver Hall residents said yesterday that passing up weekend meals in the hall's cafeteria would benefit a good cause.
About 25 Oliver residents hope to help eliminate world hunger by turning the four meals they plan to
skip this weekend into food and aid for the hungry.
From Saturday noon to Sunday noon, participants will be limited to liquids in the "Let I H Grow!" 24-hour program in the Parks, Greschel, Yardley, Pa. sophomore.
Sponsors will pledge money for each hour a participant fasts, she said, and the money will be sent to a non-profit Christian organization.
"IF, IN JUST a little way, we can motivate students to feel what they're feeling, this fast will be successful," Greschel said. "We also
wanted the city to know that students care for more than just themselves."
Greschel said she researched various relief groups and found World Relief to be a reliable organization. Proceeds from the fast will be sent to Ethiopia.
Tom Johnston, Midwest representative for World Relief in Wheaton, Ill., said, "Africa is such a mess, and we'll see it." We'll even see an end to this problem.
"But the money this group earns and sends to World Relief will buy a ton of grain that will feed 50 people for a month. That's a help."
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STUDY SKILLS WORKSHOP
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Learn about *defining a topic*
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Presented by the Student Assistance Center.
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School Board
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Program has elderly on the move
Delivery available from Mass. Street store. Party rooms available.
By BETH REITER Staff Reporter
If Wayne Osness had his way, grandmas and grandpas would run marathons — and nursing homes would be empty.
Ossness, chairman of the department of health, physical education and recreation, directs a physical fitness program at Robinson Gymnasium that helps senior citizens determine what types of exercise are appropriate for them.
The program, which tests elderly people's physical abilities and prescribes individual exercise programs, has been used by almost 2,000 people since it began years ago. Onness yesterday.
"Our nursing homes are filled with people who don't have to be there," Osness said.
The program is financed by a fund established five years ago by Edmund Rhodes, a KU alumnus, through the Kansas University Endowment Association, Osness said.
A HOSPITAL IN Indianapolis and the health department in Lincoln. Neb., also use the program, he said.
Osness administers tests to participants to determine their fitness levels. The tests include flexibility, hand-eye coordination, height, weight, blood pressure, heart rate, hand steadiness, reaction time and aerobic capacity.
After the tests are completed, scores are entered into a computer, and a profile is made that is used to prescribe exercises.
"We have some over 70 that want to run marathons," Osness said. "The profile tells what they're ready to do."
Some senior citizens don't want to exercise because they would rather sleep until 10 a.m. and watch television every day, Ossessance, or exercise, they will gain weight, get weak and suffer cell deterioration.
THE SCORES ARE also used to compare physical abilities of elderly people with others of the same age and sex, Osness said.
Most of the individual programs developed by Osness and Young and prescribed to elderly people emphasize aerobic activity such as walking, running, swimming and bicycling. You said.
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