Passenger vans, seatbelt use questioned after fatal accident

ALTO BONITO — At least four of the seven people killed Monday in a rollover crash involving a large passenger van weren’t wearing seat belts, according to police reports.

It’s unclear whether the other three who died were buckled in.

As it turns out, failure to wear a seat belt in 12- and 15-passenger vans often has deadly consequences — so much so that the federal government has banned schools from using the vehicles.

“The problem is that they can be prone to rollovers Â… at extreme conditions. That’s why we always recommend that people wear their seat belts,” said Tom Vinger, an Austin-based spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

“But what we have seen for some reason is that people in these types of vans seem less likely to wear seat belts.”

High center of gravity

In the United States from 1990 to 2003, 1,111 people died in accidents involving 15-passenger vans, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

Among occupants killed in crashes involving those vehicles, more than 75 percent weren’t wearing seat belts.

In 2000, a van full of track athletes from Prairie View A&M University swerved to miss a car and subsequently rolled, killing four people inside and seriously injuring six others, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

And in 2004, three church missionaries returning to Laredo from Mexico City died when a faulty tire caused their van to roll outside Monterrey.

The problem with these vehicles is so bad that the NTSB has issued four separate warnings about the inherent dangers of using large passenger vans.

“The basic problem with the van is that they have a high center of gravity, narrow track width and a short wheel base, which makes them prone to rollovers,” said Jeff Wigington, partner with the Corpus Christi law firm of Wigington Rumley, which has represented plaintiffs in several lawsuits against manufacturers of 15-passenger vans.

“They are more likely to roll over in any situation,” he said.

In Monday’s accident near Alto Bonito, all four passengers who are confirmed to have not been wearing a seat belt died. The driver, the only occupant confirmed to have worn a seat belt, survived.

Driver’s responsibility

In Texas, adult passengers sitting in the rear seats of vehicles are not required to wear seat belts. Furthermore, rear-seat passengers in vehicles that seat more than 10 also don’t have to buckle up.

“Our advice to anyone is, if there is a seat belt in the vehicle, then wear it,” the DPS’ Vinger said.

Owners of Rio Grande City’s La Fuente Adult Day Care, the operator of the van involved in Monday’s crash, say they ask all passengers in vehicles to wear seat belts.

“You get some of those older people and they’ve never worn a seat belt. They don’t want to wear it,” said Chris Aleman, director of La Fuente Home Health Services, a sister company of La Fuente Adult Day Care.

La Fuente administrators announced Tuesday that everyone riding in its vans has to wear a seat belt from now on.

“It’s the driver’s responsibility to tell them, and (the riders) have to obey the orders,” said Norma Chapa, administrator of another La Fuente Adult Day Care in Palmview.

Authorities investigating Monday’s crash said the driver of a Pontiac Grand Am failed to yield the right of way and collided with the van, which rolled upon impact.

Prosecutors haven’t pressed charges and no one is accusing La Fuente of any wrongdoing in connection with the collision. However, the crash has prompted a rash of responses on how to fix the safety problem these passenger vans pose.

Saving lives

On Tuesday, state Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, said he wants to work toward requiring seat belts for passengers in adult daycare vehicles.

“I was surprised to know that we don’t have a mandatory seatbelt use for the rear passengers of these vans,” Oliveira said. “These vans have had rollover problems in the past. There are questions about how safe they are in the first place.”

He is hoping to make seat belts a requirement through the state’s Department of Aging and Disability Services, the agency that regulates adult daycares. If a rule change can’t be made there, he said he would introduce legislation once the session starts.

Oliveira also is looking into the possibility of banning the use of large passenger vans at adult daycare facilities.

State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said he would support such legislation.

“These are older folks, and many times they don’t like to wear seat belts, but sometimes you have to push them in that direction and make them,” he said.

“Not wearing seat belts is dangerous and wearing a seat belt can save lives.”