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| News > Feature - Seatbelts save lives at Peterson, F.E. Warren AFBs |
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Seatbelts save lives at Peterson, F.E. Warren AFBs
Posted 12/18/2006 Updated 12/18/2006
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by Staff Sgt. Don Branum
50th Space Wing Public Affairs
12/18/2006 - SCHREIVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Two Airmen from two Air Force Space Command bases are alive today because they were wearing their seatbelts during terrifying accidents recently.
An Army NCO assigned to North American Aerospace Defense Command headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., was involved in a multiple-vehicle pile-up Nov. 12 on Interstate 70 in Denver, according to an article that ran on Peterson AFB's public Web site, www.peterson.af.mil, Dec. 11.
"I remember a (car) speeding past me and thinking, 'I've never seen a car go that fast on a highway,'" said Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Ryan, an intelligence analyst at NORAD. "When I came up over a hill, the car had lost control and hit a guardrail."
When he stopped for the accident, another vehicle rear-ended his truck. Witness estimates placed the truck's speed at 65 mph. Sergeant Ryan credits his seatbelt with saving his life.
"It was obviously the savior," he said. "Without it, I think the impact would have thrown me through the windshield--I don't think I would have survived."
An NCO with the 90th Comptroller Squadron at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., also survived an accident in part because of his seatbelt. Staff Sgt. Jeremy Rinehart got caught in a sudden snowstorm while driving in northern New Mexico.
"My truck slid on some ice," Sergeant Rinehart said. "It ended up rolling twice down an embankment and over the barbed-wire fence."
The truck came to rest upright in the middle of an access road adjoining the highway. The roof and passenger side of the vehicle had buckled and folded under the stress.
Sergeant Rinehart climbed out with a bruised shoulder, two black eyes and cuts that required 17 stitches, but he said it could have been much worse.
"My injuries were very minor for a wreck like this," he said. "If I hadn't buckled up, there is no doubt in my mind I wouldn't be here today. Bottom line: wear a seatbelt or die."
Tech. Sgt. Don Finley, ground safety manager for the 50th Space Wing Safety office, offered additional food for thought.
"If you have unbelted people in your vehicle, you are five times more likely to die if you get into an accident," Sergeant Finley said. "Unbelted people become projectiles in a crash. If a vehicle is traveling 70 mph and suddenly stops in a crash, the objects inside--including unbelted people--are still traveling at 60 to 70 mph."
Sergeant Finley encouraged drivers to also be good Wingmen.
"Don't allow the vehicle to move until everyone is belted, and make sure everyone remains belted," he said. "It takes three to five seconds to put a seatbelt on. Taking a seatbelt off in a moving vehicle, even for a second, can be fatal."
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