Weekend fatal crashes are reminder to teens: Seat belts save lives

Megan Hoffman was some distance behind fellow Minnetonka High School seniors as she headed to a homecoming bonfire Friday night at a Carver County farm when she was forced to stop.

The road was closed. An accident lay ahead.

"I didn't believe it could have been them," Hoffman said Monday, referring to the students ahead of her. "Then somebody heard on the news it was teenagers, and we all got scared."

Their fears were confirmed when she learned that her friends Kylie Grayden and Kelly Phillips had been killed when Grayden lost control of her car and it left County Road 40. Another teen in their vehicle, Grayden's cousin Mitch Grengs, was seriously injured.

Seat belts may have made a difference in the crash's toll. Phillips, who was not wearing one, died after being thrown from the back seat of Grayden's car. Grayden and Grengs were wearing seat belts.

In addition to Grayden and Phillips, both 17, Minnesota traffic crashes killed two other people over the weekend. All were younger than 30, and three of the four were not wearing seat belts and were thrown from vehicles to their deaths.

Vehicle occupants ages 16 to 29 have the lowest incidence of seat-belt use of any age group. That group suffered 142 highway deaths last year, with 88 of the victims (62 percent) failing to buckle up, said State Patrol spokesman Nathan Bowie.

Every year, unbelted vehicle occupants account for about a third of all Minnesota traffic deaths, state records show. In 2006, that percentage was 52 percent (194 of 373). This year in the state, 360 traffic fatalities have been reported.

In Minnesota, seat belts must be worn by drivers and other front-seat occupants in passenger or commercial vehicles, and must be worn by all passengers age 3 to 11. Also, all occupants must be belted in when riding in vehicles being driven by a minor with a driver's permit or a provisional license.

Police can't stop a vehicle solely for a seat-belt violation, but they can cite an unbelted person in a car stopped for a moving violation.

Hoffman had on her belt as usual that night but said Phillips' death "makes me think about having other people in my car wear their seat belts.

"Sometimes I don't like to say anything, but I will definitely speak up from now on."

Grengs, a Woodbury High School senior, remained in serious condition Monday afternoon at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. His father, Patrick Grengs, said Mitch's temperature jumped, delaying surgery.

Patrick Grengs said his son recalled slipping in and out of consciousness in the seconds after the crash and hearing no response when he called for his cousin. He also remembered being put into an ambulance and taken to an emergency room. His brain was spared injury, his father said, but his spinal cord was bruised.

Did a seat belt save his son's life? "No question," Grengs replied.

Grengs said his son's friends saw Grayden's crumpled car after it rolled off the road: "They said nobody should have survived. We were lucky."

Jim Adams • 612-673-7658

Jim Adams • jadams@startribune.com