Father calls for seat-belt law in honor of son

CHATHAM — Sean French had a bright future ahead of him.

At 16, Sean set a Chatham High School record for running the fastest mile, clocking 4:18.4, in track. The high school junior kept letters from prospective college track coaches in a folder in his room.

An honor roll student, Sean used his free time to volunteer in the community.

But Sean’s family never got a chance to see the man he would become. Sean was killed in an underage drunken driving crash in Chatham on New Year’s Day, 2002.

For the past 18 years, Mark French, of Ghent, has been on a mission to raise awareness for seat belt use in honor of his son.

Sean, a passenger in the vehicle, was not wearing a seat belt when he was ejected in the crash, his father said. But, at age 17, Sean was not required to wear a seat belt under state law.

Another passenger, Ian Moor, 17, was paralyzed in the accident. The driver, also 17, was arrested for drunken driving 18 days before the fatal crash. The tragedy prompted enactment of Sean’s Law, which now requires the immediate suspension of a license upon the arrest of a 16- or 17-year-old on drunken-driving charges.

“He was a well-rounded good kid,” French said, referring to Sean. “That’s what shocked me about this whole thing. Even good kids make bad decisions. They need our direction and need our support.”

An amendment to the state vehicle and traffic law introduced as part of the governor’s 2020 executive budget proposal calls for rear-seat passengers of all ages to use safety belts.

That’s welcome news to the father who has spent the past 18 years making sure other parents do not experience the same tragic loss.

“For me, it makes sense,” French said. “When laws like this are passed, the incidents of seat belt use increases.”

The mission of the Sean’s Run Weekend has been to promote seat belt use in honor of the late teen centered around a 5k walk/run. For more than a decade, the organizers of Sean’s Run have been using part of the proceeds of the annual event to fund grants at schools and in youth groups that encourage seat belt use in both the front and rear seats.

In 2018, Cuomo’s Traffic Safety Committee found 21 percent of highway deaths happen to people not wearing seat belts. Moreover, a lack of seat belt use was found to be a greater factor in vehicle-accident deaths than alcohol or excessive speed.

“Regardless if it passes, it confirms what we believe is a very important safety measure,” Mark French said.

This year’s Sean’s Run will be held April 27 and April 28. For more information on the event, visit www.seansrun.com.

Sean’s Run also hosts the World Championship Battle of the Belts, a team competition for high school and middle school students designed to increase teenage seat belt use by seeing which teams can buckle up the fastest.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, cites that over half of all teens that are killed in car crashes did not buckle up. Nationwide, in 2015, 4.3 percent of 22,441 fatalities — or 966 deaths — involved unrestrained people in the rear seats, according to the NHTSA website. An unbuckled rear-seat passenger is eight times more likely to be injured or killed in a crash than a buckled rear-seat passenger, according to the NHTSA.

To reach reporter Amanda Purcell, call 518-828-1616 ext. 2500, or send an email to apurcell@thedailymail.net, or tweet to @amandajpurcell.