Mt. Prospect gives awards for wearing seat belts

Saly Joseph, Anna Wegener, Claire Reibel and Annie Bolger smiled and stood next to each other at Tuesday's Mount Prospect village board meeting.

You'd never guess the four were all involved in the same serious car accident less than a year ago.

"This is an award we give people for staying alive," said Mayor Irvana Wilks who honored the group for wearing their seat belts. "This was a serious car accident, the vehicle's (air) bags inflated and we got an e-mail showing how destructive it was."

On Oct. 6, 2009, Wegener was hit head on by Joseph. A third driver - who was not at Tuesday's meeting - caused the accident by turning left from Prospect Manor to westbound Kensington. After the man hit Joseph, she lost control of her vehicle and hit Wegner, who was driving eastbound on Kensington.

"There were three cars, three drivers and three passengers, and because everyone was wearing their seat belts, they all walked away without any injuries," said Sgt. Mike Eterno.

A few minutes before October crash, Mount Prospect police conducted a seat belt check at Prospect High School, where officers checked each driver and passenger coming out of the school for seat belt use, Eterno said. Wegener was a senior at the time of the accident.

Statewide, the number of people who die in car accidents is way down, and Police Chief John Dahlberg attributes that to increased seat belt use.

"Many people in this community believe our efforts are misplaced, but this is very important," he said.

Dahlberg said 2009 was the safest year on Illinois roads since 1928.