Saved by the belt: Family recalls crash that could have been deadly


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SALT LAKE CITY — Eve Harding said she never thought it would happen to her.

The 13-year-old was on her way to practice with the Utah Youth Symphony Orchestra when her family’s van was hit in a head-on collision on Jan. 16. Eve was riding in the passenger seat.

“I had no time to react,” said her father, Justin Harding, the governor's chief of staff. “All I knew was immediately I had a vehicle in my field of vision, and smack!”

But Harding and four of his six children walked away from the accident with only minor injuries. Harding attributes their safety to wearing seat belts.

“Had we not been properly restrained, I think that we all would’ve been seriously injured,” he said.

Eve’s mother, Bridget Harding, was just thankful for the family van, which was totaled in the crash.

“I looked at my van and I got emotional,” she said. “That car had seen us through so much. I thought, ‘If this was its last act, it did it for us. It totally saved us.'”

Harding and his family gathered together Monday on the steps of the Libby Gardner Concert Hall to share their story and announce the start of the national Click It or Ticket safety campaign.

“This is 100 percent about this picture right here,” said Utah Highway Patrol Col. Danny Fuhr, looking at the Harding family. “Families being together and coming home safe, even after horrific crashes because they had their seat belts on.”

The Click It or Ticket campaign is a two-week increased seat belt enforcement period, organized by the Utah Department of Public Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“The more that we enforce, the more that we educate, the less people will die on Utah roadways,” Fuhr said.

There were a total of 276 traffic fatalities in Utah during 2015, or 187 if you exclude pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists. Of those deaths, 86 were not wearing seat belts, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety.

Justin Harding, Gov. Gary Herbert’s chief of staff, and Utah Highway Patrol Col. Daniel Fuhr encourage seat belt use during a press conference in Salt Lake City on Monday, May 23, 2016. Harding was driving kids to a Utah Youth Symphony Orchestra rehearsal at Gardner Hall on the University of Utah campus when they were hit head on in January 2016. (Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)
Justin Harding, Gov. Gary Herbert’s chief of staff, and Utah Highway Patrol Col. Daniel Fuhr encourage seat belt use during a press conference in Salt Lake City on Monday, May 23, 2016. Harding was driving kids to a Utah Youth Symphony Orchestra rehearsal at Gardner Hall on the University of Utah campus when they were hit head on in January 2016. (Photo: Ravell Call, Deseret News)

“The outcome can be absolutely tragic if we don’t follow the simple steps of wearing a seat belt,” Fuhr said.

The enforcement period is strategically planned to begin before Memorial Day, one of the busiest and often deadliest travel weekends of the year, he said.

Officers throughout the state will be working more than 1,000 overtime shifts from May 23 through June 5.

In the first two weeks of May, there were 12 fatal crashes on Utah roads; eight of those victims were unbuckled or improperly restrained, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety. While 87 percent of Utah drivers buckle up, nearly 50 percent of fatal crashes are due to unbuckled occupants, the department says.

Failing to wear a seat belt is a primary violation. First time violators receive a warning, but additional violations can result in a $45 citation.

To encourage seat belt use, violators who receive a citation will be offered the option to take a 30-minute online course instead of paying the fine. The course provides videos, stories and information about seat belt use.

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Ashley Stilson

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