Villa Park honors woman for seat-belt use

The simple act of buckling her seat belt the afternoon of April 24 quite possibly saved Villa Park resident Cindy Kowalski's life.

"That few seconds … saved her from serious injury or worse," Villa Park police Lt. Ray Fisher said.

Kowalski was honored this week by the village, police department and the Illinois Department of Transportation with a Saved by the Safety Belt award.

The statewide program aims to increase awareness of the life-saving value of wearing seat belts by recognizing individuals who survived traffic crashes because they were buckled up.

"You are a living testimony that seat belts save lives," said former Villa Park deputy chief Dennis Anderson, who now works for the transportation agency.

Kowalski was driving south on Villa Avenue about 3 p.m. April 24 when a landscaping truck turned in front of her, Fisher recalled. The collision caused her Ford sport-utility vehicle to roll over and come to rest on its roof.

"She suffered only minor injuries from broken glass," Fisher said.

Over the years, Anderson has heard many people say they always buckle up on the highways but not on residential streets, he said. Kowalski's accident demonstrates the fault in that logic.

"Cindy was in her own town on a local street," Anderson said. "Her life was saved because she was wearing a seat belt. This is a graphic example of how this can happen at any time, anywhere.

"Let this be a reminder to everyone: Buckle up."

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's latest available data, 55 percent of the nearly 29,000 individuals 16 and older who died in car crashes on highways in 2006 were not wearing seat belts.

Research shows that when used, lap/shoulder belts reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50 percent, the national agency reports.