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Thursday, May 3, 2001 Belt use suspected in model's crashCOX NEWS SERVICE ATLANTA — An older-style seat belt may have attributed to the extensive liver damage supermodel Niki Taylor suffered during a weekend car crash in Atlanta. Taylor, who remained in critical condition Wednesday at Grady Memorial Hospital, was a passenger in a 1993 Nissan Maxima that ran into a telephone pole on Ponce De Leon Avenue near City Hall East early Sunday. The car has seat belts in which the shoulder strap automatically slides into place when the door closes, said Bill Gaskin, parts specialist for Peachtree Nissan in Chamblee. But the passenger must buckle the lap belt. That seat belt system, which was phased out of cars about four years ago, has caused a wide variety of injuries, ranging from neck injuries to decapitation, said Dr. Joe Burton, former medical examiner for several metro Atlanta counties. "One of the classic injuries is a ruptured liver," Burton said. "You can kind of rotate around the belt – people call it barber-poling – where the left shoulder rolls around clockwise and the belt catches the liver," he said. "Normally, the problem (automatic seat belts) cause is when they are worn automatically and the lap belt isn't used," said Chris Broome, head of the University of Georgia's Occupant Protection Safety Education Program. "You would be surprised when you are doing a road check, the number of people with just the shoulder strap and not the lap (belt) on," he said. Automakers opted for the automatic shoulder belts starting in the late 1980s to comply with federal regulations requiring cars to provide safety features that passengers would not have to actively use, Burton said. Federal laws have since required air bags in both front seats, so auto manufacturers have phased out the automatic seat belts, he said. A spokeswoman for Taylor said she was wearing her seat belt, but it is unclear whether she was wearing the lap belt. But Burton said even if a passenger uses the lap belt, it won't work as well as a regular seat belt "because the geometry's all wrong." Dr. Jeffrey Nichols, who is treating Taylor at Grady, said it could be weeks before doctors know if she will recover fully. Appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America," he said Taylor "lost extensive amounts of blood" and was still in intensive care. He said her injuries "were life-threatening and remain that way." Taylor, 26, was the face of Liz Claiborne from 1996 until last year, and had risen through modeling's ranks to become one of the world's most recognizable faces, appearing on hundreds of magazine covers. Taylor was riding in the Maxima driven by friend James Renegar at 3:50 a.m. Sunday when the accident occurred. According to the police report, Renegar reached down to pick up his cell phone, lost control of the car, and ran into a telephone pole. The police report does not show whether the car was speeding, but it stated that neither drugs or alcohol were involved. |
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