One-car crash in W. End kills Effort woman

from www.poconorecord.com

One-car crash in W. End kills Effort woman
November 11, 2006An Effort woman was killed in a one-car crash in the West End on Thursday night, the 28th person to die on Monroe County roads in 2006.Clara James-Hairston, 64, of Effort, died when her 1996 Nissan Altima left the roadway on Sugar Hollow Road near Pine Tree Road in Chestnuthill Township and hit a large tree head-on.It is not known if she was wearing a seat belt.Hairston was transported to Pocono Medical Center and then taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital, where she died during emergency surgery.No other details were released.So far this year, there have been 24 fatal accidents in the county, with five of those, and seven deaths, occurring in the West End.In 2005 in Monroe County, 30 people died in 25 crashes. Of those crashes, 10 were in the West End, causing 13 deaths.What causes most of these accidents?Speed and alcohol, according to Sgt. Rob Castner, commander of the Fern Ridge barracks of the Pennsylvania State Police.In a 2005 interview, Castner said that "if we could just get people to slow down and not drink and drive, we could cut the number of crashes dramatically."Do seat belts really make a difference?Yes, says Nina Woodling, Monroe County Highway Safety Officer."All kinds of things can factor into an accident. And unfortunately, in spite of all the efforts to educate people about the benefits and proper use of seat belts, many people still don't — or won't — wear them," she said in 2005.She cited these statistics:There is an 85 percent chance of being involved in a life-threatening crash in a lifetime. Seventy-four percent of those people will be saved from serious injury or death simply by wearing a seat belt."How can you argue with those numbers?" she asked last December.-- Catherine Rodriguez