Seatbelts Save Lives
by Nancy
(Illinois)
Driving my van to work on a rural road one January morning, I came up behind a snowplow. Since we had quite an accumulation of snow already, the driver was trying to trim off some of the snow on the side of the road. This resulted in near white out conditions if you were too close to him. Easing off the gas, I gave him plenty of room.
I was watching the snowplow in front of me, unaware that a full-sized pickup truck came over the hill behind me. Due to the slick road the truck could not get stopped.
The next thing I knew there was a huge BANG and all I saw was white everywhere. The driver's seat had broken as my van was slammed up off the road into the deep snowbank.
The back window popped out. The rear seat was shoved up against the middle seats which were pushed up to the front seats.
I retrieved my bent glasses and said a prayer for the fact that I was wearing my seatbelt. If it hadn't been buckled, I would have gone through the windshield of the van.
My vehicle was totaled, but thanks to the seatbelt and guardian angels, I survived with only bumps, bruises and sore muscles. Our family has always had the rule that the vehicle doesn't move until everyone is buckled. I know from personal experience that seatbelts do save lives!
