Death rate rises for unbelted cops.

• Position: Patrol Cars - Brief Article

Unbelted police officers are 2.6 times more likely to die if their patrol car crashes than those who use a seat belt, a study from the University at Buffalo (N.Y.) shows. "More police officers died from traffic accidents in 2003 than from gunshot wounds," points out Dietrich Jehle, associate professor of emergency medicine and lead author on the study.

"The fact that traffic-related Crash fatalities now are greater than the number of officers killed by felons suggests this issue needs to be revisited on a national scale."

Rushing to a crime scene was not the major reason for failing to buckle up, as might have been expected. The findings indicated that 60% of fatal crashes occurred when police were responding to nonemergency calls. Seat belt use was slightly lower for these calls.

"Civilians are often ticketed for not wearing their seat belts...