MOUNT GILEAD – Bernice Cline and Kaitlyn Bowyer may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time on March 23, but the right choice they made to wear seatbelts likely saved their lives during an auto accident that day.
The Cardington residents’ good judgment earned them membership in Ohio’s “Saved by the Belt” Club on June 21, according to a press release from the Mount Gilead Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Ohio State Highway Patrol Lieutenant Gurjit S. Grewal, Mt. Gilead Post commander, presented them with a “Saved by the Belt” certificate signed by Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Thomas J. Stickrath and Colonel Richard S. Fambro, Patrol superintendent.
“They are a living testimony to the effectiveness of safety belts,” Grewal said. “Everyone needs to buckle up every trip, every time.”
The crash occurred on State Route 61 in Morrow County on March 23.
The “Saved by the Belt” Club is a joint effort by the Ohio Department of Public Safety and more than 400 Ohio law enforcement agencies. This club is designed to recognize people who have benefited from their decision to wear safety belts.
They also received “Saved by the Belt” license plate brackets.
Provisional data from 2020 shows 487 people in Ohio were killed in traffic crashes where a safety belt was available but not in use.
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