In just 25 hours this weekend, seven lives were claimed in a series of deadly motor vehicle wrecks on area highways.
The accidents made their mark throughout the region: the victims lived in Chattanooga, Sale Creek, Harrison, Dalton, Ga. They died on highways in Hamilton, Marion and Catoosa counties.
Six of the victims – three each in two crashes – were not wearing seat belts. The seventh was driving a motorcycle, traffic officials say.
Seat belts aren’t a guarantee. But the Georgia State Patrol trooper who worked the most recent crash – a horrendous rollover that threw three people out of their SUV, one into the path of an oncoming semi truck – noted that the only survivor was buckled in.
“I can’t sit back here and tell you if they would have lived or died if they had restraints,” said Cpl. Kris Hemphill with Georgia State Patrol. “But the fact that the woman wearing one survived is, in my opinion, a true testament of the seat belt.”