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Bristol police present motorist with "Saved by the Belt" award

Bristol, Tenn., police officials presented the “Saved by the Belt” Award to Jerry Lewis on Thursday.

By Claire Galofaro
Published: December 18, 2009

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Jerry Lewis could have died in June when he plowed into a car that cut him off on the highway.

He slammed on his brakes to avoid the wreck, but the crash was inevitable. After he smashed into the car, his airbags deployed as his vehicle spun around and hit the same car a second time, then careened across the opposite lanes of traffic on Tennessee State Route 394.

Lewis was wearing his seat belt.

Although his car was all but demolished, he walked away with minor injuries.

On Thursday, the Bristol Tennessee police department presented Lewis with the Saved by the Belt award, a national program that recognizes people whose lives were saved by using a seat belt.

“We look for a crash throughout the city that we can celebrate as a win,” said city police patrol Capt. Matt Austin. “A lot of times crashes are marked with tragedy. But, because he used his seat belt, he avoided very serious injury or even death.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found in 2008 that 83 percent of people wear their seat belt, and that the death rate in traffic accidents dramatically declined as seat belt usage inched up over the years.

Tennessee is one of 26 states with a primary enforcement seat belt law, meaning a car can be pulled over solely for a driver or passenger not wearing a seat belt. Austin said area police have recently ramped up their efforts to catch unrestrained drivers.

They present the Saved by the Belt award both to honor a responsible driver and to highlight the efficacy of proper seat belt usage.

“I’ve seen several fatal accidents that – if they were wearing their seat belt – it could have prevented the fatality,” Austin said. “I’ve seen people ejected from the vehicle because they weren’t wearing seat belts. That amount of money and quality of life lost for people involved in crashes may not have been so serious, had they been wearing a seat belt.”

cgalofaro@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2531