Yellow Cab
(Monroe NJ, May 23, 2015) John Forbes Nash Jr, and his wife, Alicia Nash, of nearly 60 years was killed in a taxi cab crash on the New Jersey Turnpike. Nash was returning to his home in Princeton Junction (NJ) from a trip to Norway having landed at Newark Liberty Airport. Nash was in Norway to receive the Abel Prize for mathematics from King Harald V. Nash received the award along with colleague Louis Nirenberg for his work on nonlinear partial differential equations. Nash, a mathematician at Princeton University, is known for his work on game theory and his struggle with paranoid schizophrenia, depicted in the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind, starring Russell Crowe.
Nash’s death may focus attention on the use of seat belts by passengers and the lack of seatbelts in some taxi and limousines. Nash’s death comes on the heels of the death of 60 Minutes long term correspondent Bob Simon who died in a Limousine accident in February (2015) in New York City. Both Nash, his wife Alicia Nash, and Bob Simon were unrestrained passengers.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is a 50% decrease in crash related injuries and deaths when drivers and passengers wear seat belts. The CDC also points out that 55% of teens who died in car crashes were not wearing a seat belt. Many taxis and limousines do not have rear seat seatbelts readily available or available at all. Bob Simon died from a neck fracture because he was an unrestrained rear seat passenger. Both John Nash and his wife Alicia Nash were unrestrained and ejected from the Ford Crown Victoria taxi they were passengers in. The taxi driver, Tark Girgis of Elizabeth NJ, had to be extricated from his taxi and flown to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick but had non-life-threatening injuries. Girgis was wearing his seatbelt.
In New Jersey, seatbelts for all passengers is required. Police officers can issue summons for Failure to Wear a Seatbelt which imposes a fine of $46.00 plus court costs of $33.00 and the failure to wear a seatbelt can be a factor in sentencing in Criminal offenses related to motor vehicle offenses. New Jersey Police Officers can stop drivers if they or their front seat passengers do not have their seat belts on. New Jersey Police Officers cannot stop a vehicle just because a rear seat passenger fails to have their seatbelts on. The Passenger can be issued a fine however if the vehicle is stopped for another reason. The only state that does not have a mandatory seatbelt law is New Hampshire. New Jersey’s annual Click or Ticket It program provides special funding to municipalities to target motorists who are not wearing their seatbelts and provide signage encouraging motorists to wear their seatbelts. The annual Click or Ticket program was in full swing at the time of the Nash crash having started on May 18th and running until May 31st, 2015.