A central Iowa sheriff is urging drivers and passengers to wear their seat belts after three serious rollover crashes were reported in Marshall County in the past three weeks. Marshall County Sheriff Steven Hoffman said a seat belt could have saved the life of 22-year-old Chase Clarke, who was killed Tuesday night along eastbound Highway 30, just west of Marshalltown. Clarke lost control of his pickup truck, and it rolled over, ejecting him from the vehicle, Iowa State Patrol troopers said.On Nov. 21, 22-year-old Kyle Borota was thrown from his vehicle east of Marshalltown and died. He was not wearing a seat belt. The young driver of an orange Chevy Cobalt survived late last month because they did wear a seat belt. “You can’t say with certainty, but with nearly 28 years of experience, I can say in probability these people would have been safe if they were wearing a seat belt,” Hoffman said. “That’s what really makes this tragic.” Rural Americans are less likely to wear seat belts and are more likely to die in crashes, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s a mindset that Hoffman said he wants to change.“It’s important to remember in our rural areas, they have less room for error,” Hoffman said. “If you drop off the edge of the roadway, you don’t have wide aprons and shoulders to make that smooth recovery.” “That’s what’s really important, is making this safety device a habit and reinforcing that with our children and drivers,” he added.Across the country, the CDC found that seat belt use in the most rural counties was only 75 percent, compared with 89 percent in the most urban counties.

A central Iowa sheriff is urging drivers and passengers to wear their seat belts after three serious rollover crashes were reported in Marshall County in the past three weeks.

Marshall County Sheriff Steven Hoffman said a seat belt could have saved the life of 22-year-old Chase Clarke, who was killed Tuesday night along eastbound Highway 30, just west of Marshalltown.


Clarke lost control of his pickup truck, and it rolled over, ejecting him from the vehicle, Iowa State Patrol troopers said.

On Nov. 21, 22-year-old Kyle Borota was thrown from his vehicle east of Marshalltown and died. He was not wearing a seat belt.

The young driver of an orange Chevy Cobalt survived late last month because they did wear a seat belt.

“You can’t say with certainty, but with nearly 28 years of experience, I can say in probability these people would have been safe if they were wearing a seat belt,” Hoffman said. “That’s what really makes this tragic.”

Rural Americans are less likely to wear seat belts and are more likely to die in crashes, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s a mindset that Hoffman said he wants to change.

“It’s important to remember in our rural areas, they have less room for error,” Hoffman said. “If you drop off the edge of the roadway, you don’t have wide aprons and shoulders to make that smooth recovery.”

“That’s what’s really important, is making this safety device a habit and reinforcing that with our children and drivers,” he added.

Across the country, the CDC found that seat belt use in the most rural counties was only 75 percent, compared with 89 percent in the most urban counties.