Saved By The Belt
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| Retha Colclasure |
| 10/6/2009 |
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| So far this year, 107 people have been killed on North Dakota roads. That`s already higher than the number of fatalities last year. And 63 of those people weren`t wearing a seat belt. The Department of Transportation wants to reduce those numbers in the future. One thing the Department of Transportation is doing is bringing in people to tell their personal stories of how a seat belt saved their lives. That`s the case of 16-year old Chelsy Bornemann. A car that hasn`t gone anywhere under its own power in about a month was attracting a lot of attention in front of the Department of Transportation. "It just kinda makes me sick to my stomach when you look at it," says Gerri Hill, of Makoti, North Dakota. "It`s scary, you hope somebody`s wearing their seat belt in that," says Bismarck resident Darla VanVleet. She was. Chelsy Bornemann says she`s thankful she`s able to tell the story of what happened on a county road about four weeks ago. "I was reaching to the cubby to grab a Kleenex, then my wheel went with me," Bornemann says. "So I went into the ditch, it was a steep ditch. I ran into an approach and hit it and flew into the air and rolled twice." But she was able to survive, because of her seat belt. "Had she not been buckled in she would have flown out, they always do," says Francis Ziegler, of the North Dakota Department of Transportation. "Laws of physics will throw you out of the car." It`s hard for Bornemann to look at what`s left of her car, and even harder for her to talk about. But she`s determined to share her story of buckling up "It kept me there," she says. "I didn`t move very much." Pieces of the accident are still embedded in the car, but Bornemann says she`s lucky she was pretty much able to walk away. She says it took an accident like this for her to decide to always wear her seat belt. "Before I wore it every once in awhile when I was going on long trips, but now I wear it every time," Bornemann says. Those at the DOT say they`re glad Bornemann is able to tell her story, and hope that even more people will learn the lesson she learned the hard way. If you need one more reason to wear a seat belt, you might get a ticket if you don`t. For the next two weeks, 20 law enforcement agencies in North Dakota are taking part in a statewide effort to enforce the state`s seat belt laws. |
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