“Seatbelts saved our lives”
Beulah Coley and her daughter, Cora, both of Taylorsville, suffered serious injuries in a car crash, but seatbelts ultimately saved their lives. They are the July “Saved by the Belt” award recipients.
Coley is July’s “Saved by the Belt” recipient
Taylorsville’s Beulah Coley and her 5-year-old daughter, Cora, were driving back from a weekend getaway at the family’s mountain cabin when tragedy struck unexpectedly, according to the N.C. Dept. of Transportation.
Thankfully, she and her daughter were wearing their seat belts.
That decision saved their lives and earned Coley the Governor’s Highway Safety Program’s “Saved By the Belt Award” for July.
“It was a beautiful, sunny drive,” Coley recalls. “Cora and I were listening to music and discussing our summer plans.”
Less than two miles from their house, Coley watched as an oncoming car ran off N.C. 16, then overcorrected, heading straight for Coley’s vehicle.
“There was no time to react before our cars collided head on.”
The accident left Coley and her daughter seriously injured. They were airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte and suffered broken bones and lacerations, but both eventually recovered.
Beulah and little Cora were lucky to survive.
“We were told numerous times in the hospital that we would likely not have survived if we had not been appropriately restrained,” Coley said, adding that their injuries were among the worst their doctors had ever seen.
The Coleys and others like them are the main reason the N.C. Governor’s Highway Safety Program, or NCGHSP, created the “Saved By the Belt Award.”
“Ms. Coley made an incredibly smart decision for herself and her daughter,” said Mark Ezzell, director of NCGHSP. “Their story proves what we already know, that seatbelts save lives, and lets us continue spending precious time with our loved ones.”
Coley agrees.
“Although it’s been hard to watch her suffer, I’m so grateful to be here with my baby,” she said. “I’ve always buckled up – but now I have an even greater desire to share our story and encourage everyone else to take this simple and potentially life-saving precaution.”
Share your “Saved by the Belt” stories to raise awareness about the importance of seat belt usage, and follow them @NCGHSP on Facebook and @NC_GHSP on Twitter and Instagram. For more information, visit www.ncghsp.org.
The Times’ 2020 article on the wreck is available here: https://www.taylorsvilletimes.com/2020/05/05/man-dies-woman-and-daughter-airlifted-in-nc-16-collision/
