Seatbelts Save Local Family's Lives
By:
CROMWELL - A Northland family's lives were saved by their seatbelts in a nearly fatal car accident.
This week started the nation's largest seat belt enforcement campaign with authorities looking for and ticketing drivers that don't buckle up.
The Johnson’s car accident is a great reminder to buckle up.
The family says the day of the accident will forever be engraved in their minds.
"I'm happy I'm here it was scary," said Johanna Johnson whose life was saved by a seatbelt.
It started out as a normal day for the Johnson family as they were being dropped off at school by their babysitter.
"I personally was reading a book, that's what I spend most of my time doing," said Lucas Johnson whose life was saved by his seatbelt.
When all of a sudden things literally took a turn for the worse on the frosty, slippery roads.
"We were going around the corner and we slipped on some ice and started swerving," said Johanna.
"Honestly in my mind it was just too fast to react." said Lucas.
Then the family says the babysitter lost control of the car and it started to spin.
"Yup, around twice," says Jacob Johnson whose life was also saved by his seatbelt.
"My mind just went blank,” said Johanna. I didn't think of anything at the time."
"I was looking out the window to see if we we're going to roll,” said Jacob. I saw the edge of the blacktop and we were still swerving pretty fast."
The minivan reached the edge of the blacktop, tipped, and the van began to roll over several times down a 40 foot embankment.
"It just completely rolled like a tire," said Lucas.
"Like you felt like you were weightless," said Johanna.
"Everything was flying around like it was a twister almost, it was scary," said Lucas
"I was thinking I hope nothing hits me," said Jacob.
Their lives flashed before their eyes.
"We were going to die," said Johanna.
The van finally landed on its tires and the family escaped only with minor scratches.
For the Johnson family the clicks of their seatbelts meant the difference between life and death.
"All of us tend to think that nothing like that will ever happen to us," said the Mother of the family Marnie Johnson. I'm just so thankful that when it did happen to us that my kids and my babysitter had all been prepared, they were buckled."
The Johnsons now have a message for people who think they're too cool or don't want to wear a seat belt or sit in a booster seat.
"No matter how uncool it may be I think you wanna keep all your body parts attached and in working order," said Lucas.
The Minnesota State Patrol says more than half of passengers killed in crashes are not wearing a seatbelt.
