Five little words help define local communities united in grief "We love you — buckle up." Business reader-boards, hand-lettered messages in car windows and makeshift roadway memorials honor young lives lost this summer in tragic auto accidents.

Police accounts indicate that the lack of proper vehicle restraint played a major role in the deaths of those killed in some of these accidents.

And, although the circumstances and locations differ — ranging from a blown tire on a stretch of highway in the desert near Palm Springs, to high speed roll over on a once rural road in Marysville — these accidents have at least one thing in common, the occupants should have been wearing their seatbelts.

Those who follow The Herald’s Letters section are familiar with the debate that’s raged this summer over the enforcement of the state’s seat belt laws. Responding to a July 7 article titled "No more seat-belt warnings", police officer Steve Pomper wrote in his July 17 letter, "If an adult chooses not to use a seatbelt while driving, that seems an ill-considered decision to me, but so does going outside in freezing weather without a warm jacket, both seemingly stupid, but neither harms, nor infringes on the rights of any other person and neither is any of my business."

Along with many of our letter writers, we disagree.

Whether you consider wearing a seatbelt a personal liberty or not — it’s still the law, and one that ought to be enforced. The use of seat belts and child restraints is mandatory in the state of Washington. It’s clearly put on the state’s Web site: "Every person 16 years of age or older, operating or riding in a motor vehicle, shall wear the safety belt assembly in a properly adjusted and securely fastened manner. No person may operate a motor vehicle unless all passengers under the age of 16 are either wearing a safety belt assembly or are securely fastened into an approved child restraint device. See RCW 46.61.687 and RCW 46.61.688." Enough said.

As for a lack of seatbelts not infringing on the rights of others, we have to disagree —completely. With over $14 billion spent each year in our country to treat victims of crashes in which seat belts aren’t used, there is a direct connection to all of us through higher premiums for insurance, hospital rates and taxes. Pomper chooses to label the public burden argument socialistic, we think it’s realistic.

Either way, there is only one smart course: buckle up.