- ruling National

PAGE 12, THE HERALD, Friday, September 16, 1977

Police

arrest
mourners

JOHANNESBURG (AP)-
Riot police with dogs
arrested 1,200 students at
the black university of Fort
Hare on Thursday to block a
memorial service for Steve
Biko,. the black leader who
died in prison hospital after
a hunger strike.

The service was the first
of several planned by white
students, black natidnalists
and church leaders across
South Africa in a wave of

death of the 30 year old
activist, described by one
newspaper as ‘“‘perhaps the
most important black Jeader
in South Africa.”

The protests were fuelled
by questions as to whether
the prisons department had
made any effort to save
Biko’s _ life.

A spokesman for the
university, 350 miles south
of here, said the white
principal had turned down a
‘request from the students to
suspend lectures for the
service.

But the students went
ahead and gathered on the
rugby field, singing black
nationalist songs. They
were quickly surrounded by
police.

Offering no resistance, the
students were shepherded to
a grandstand and taken
away in police vehicles.
Witnesses said students
made black power salutes
as they were led away but no
violence was reported.

Of ‘ials said the students
were «otained under the
Riotous Assemblies Act,
“hich cequires official
peission for the most
public gatherings of more
than three people.

Biko, founder of the black
consciousness movement in
Scuth Africa, died Monday
after what the government.
said was an eight-day
hunger strike. He had been
detained three weeks
earlier. Up to 21 blacks are
reported to have died in
police custody in the last 18
months.

Ata protest meeting at the
almost all-white University
of Cape Town, liberal
newspaper editor Donald
Woods called on Prisons
Minister James Druger to
resign if inquest findings
show that his department
had not done anything to
prevent Biko’s death.

Kruger told the Transvaal
provincial congress of the
party
Wednesday that Biko was
not force-fed during his
hunger strike because
prison guards would have
been accused of brutality,
He said it was Biko's
“democratic right’? not to
eat, .

But a spokesman for the .

minister said Thursday that
Biko was fed intravenously
before he died.

Kruger also rejected
demands from _ white
liberals for a special inquest
into Biko’s death. He said
inquests by magistrates are
sufficient.

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invites inquiries about

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564-0250

Learning
at
night

About 200 people showed up
for registration for com-
munity education courses at
the Terrace Arena banquet
room last night. The
courses, sponsored by
School District 88 and
Northwest Community
College, range from basic
English to yoga. Classes
begin a week from Monday.

THE RISK OF INJURIES WILL

BE GREATLY REDUCED.

You'll notice the headline says “will be re-

duced"~not “might” or “should be". The reasons

for being so definite lie in a simple, proven

fact: wherever seat belt use has been required
by law, the injury and fatality rate in motor
vehicle accidents has dropped by a significant
margin. Mandatory seat belt use has been
enacted in nearly 20 nations, including Sweden,
France, West Germany and Australia. Ontario
has required seat belt use since January 1, 1976
and in the U.S., more than half the states are
preparing seat belt legislation. Clearly, it's a
wortd-wide trend.

Seat belts needed. at high or low speeds.

A common fallacy is the belief that seat belts
are only helpful in high speed accidents. The
fact is that accidents happen at all speeds...
and at every speed, seat belts prevent injuries
and deaths. The following chart is based ona
Swedish study, which showed that at any
speed, seat belts reduced injuries and deaths
by about 50%. In the same study, involving
28,000 accident records, it was determined
that,not one person wearing a lap/shoulder
belt was killed in accidents up to 60 miles per
hour. Unbelted people, on the other hand, were

% DRIVERS INJURED (Some Fatalities*)
Bohlin seat belt effectiveness study

30%

25%

20%

15%

Not Belted
Noe

10%
Belted \

5% ‘*

40 mph 60 mph

killed at speeds as low as 12 miles per hour.

As the chart indicates, the chances of a serious
accident are much greater at high speed...
but, in fact, the total number of accidents is
much greater at low speeds. The reason is that
most driving takes place within towns and
cities ...and this low-speed driving can be
surprisingly hazardous. A recent survey indi-
cated that 90% of traffic accidents happen at
speeds of less than 30 miles per hour...and
that two thirds of all injuries and half of all
fatalities occur at these low speeds.

Most accidents take place within a short dist-
ance of the driver's home. So it's as important
to buckle up for a trip to the supermarket

as itis for a freeway run.

Being “thrown clear” is no help.

Some people believe that in an accident,
they're better off being “thrown clear”. .. that
the lack of a seat beit can save them from
drowning or fire resulting from an accident.

In truth, less than half of 1% of all injury-
producing accidents are followed by fire or
submersion...and even in such an accident,
a belted driver has a better chance of remain-
ing conscious and being able to cope with
the situation. i

In any accident, an unbelted car occupant
becomes a flying object, susceptible to injury
or death by being hurled against the dash-
board, steering column or windshield. ..or by
being “thrown clear” of the car, against the
pavement or into the path of an oncoming
vehicle. The weight of your body in motion
can even kill or injure a fellow passenger—
especially a child.

Seat belts save lives and dollars.

Last year in B:C., 630 peaple were killed in
traffic accidents and thousands more injured.

It's estimated that if only 50%.of car occupants
in the province had used seat belts during that
period, there would have been 168 fewer
deaths. There is no way to fully assess the
value of these lives, in either human or financial
terms. However, it is possible to calculate the
costs associated with traffic injuries. When
hospital and medical costs, lost wages and
costs relating to spinal injuries are totalled, the
figure comes to $11,517,000 for the year 1976
alone. There is no question that increased seat
belt use would drastically reduce the amount
of human misery this figure represents.

Buckling up is your responsibility.

By any measure, seat belts work. They save
lives, reduce injuries and save millions of
dollars in public expense. But they only work if
they're used... by drivers and passengers...
young and oild...in front and rear seats. ..at
high and low speeds. If your car has lap and
shoulder belts, use both-your chances of
avoiding injury are better. If you're the driver,
make sure everyone in your car uses the

belts available.

The use of seat belts becomes mandatory in
B.C. on October ist. Start buckling up today...
and join the fight to make driving safer
throughout our province.

Province of
British Columbia
— Ministry of Energy,
Transport and Communications
BUCKLES U

For further information, write:.
Seat Belt Information Centre,
Mator-Vehicle Branch, Victoria, B.C. V8V 2H3