Seventeen-year-old Mitch Grengs thanks his seat belt for saving his life. That's something nearly 100 others in his age group can't do.

Seat-belt use was absent among a majority of the 176 16- to 19-year-olds who died in state traffic accidents in 2004-06, the Department of Public Safety reported Thursday. Teens and young adults use seat belts the least often of any age group, according to the department.

Grengs, a Woodbury High School senior, was buckled in the front seat when his cousin Kylie Grayden lost control of the car on a Carver County road near Belle Plaine and crashed in September. Grayden and her friend Kelly Phillips, both 17 and Minnetonka High School students, were killed. Grengs was seriously hurt.

"I know I'd be dead if I wasn't wearing it," Grengs said.

The State Patrol said Phillips was not wearing her seat belt in the back seat and was thrown from the vehicle. The patrol said Grayden had on her belt.

Sort of, Grengs said Thursday.

He said Grayden had the belt buckled across her lap but the shoulder restraint was behind her back.

Cheri Marti, director of the department's Office of Traffic Safety, implored parents to stress seat-belt use among their teenagers.

In a statement issued with the data's release, Marti said parents must continue to monitor and train their teens about safe driving habits even after the teens are licensed. She said parents need to establish sensible rules -- such as limits on nighttime driving and the number of passengers, and restrictions on cell phones and other electronic devices.

Grengs said Thursday that his cousin had been using her cell phone and iPod while driving that evening and that both of them were adjusting the music as it was being transmitted through the car radio. That might have distracted her and caused the crash, he said.

A 2006 state law prohibits teenagers under 18 with a driving permit or provisional license from using a cell phone in a moving vehicle, even with a headset. There is no law specifically addressing use of music devices while driving.

"Teens being distracted is a significant issue, particularly because they are not experienced drivers," Marti said last week. "Text-messaging, getting cell calls, listening to an iPod, talking with friends in the car -- it increases the risk of a crash."

According to the state data:

•At least 98 of the 176 16- to 19-year-olds killed on state roads in 2004-6 were not belted; belt use was unknown in 14 cases.

•In outstate Minnesota, 58 percent of the deaths involved teens who were not belted, compared with 44 percent in the metro area.

•The seven-county metro area accounted for 54 deaths, with 24 of them not belted. A large majority (70 percent) of the metro fatalities were in three counties: Anoka (14), Dakota (13) and Washington (10).

Marti added that parents need to be role models behind the wheel: belt up, drive at safe speeds, pay attention, put down the cell phone and don't drive aggressively.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482 Jim Adams • 612-673-7658