By The Diary
03 Sep 2024, 02:43 AM EDT
Police say six children were hospitalized and in critical condition after being thrown from a vehicle that crashed on a freeway in San Antonio. Authorities say none of the children were wearing seat belts.
The crash happened around 7:30 p.m. near Interstate 35 North and Frost Bank Center Drive. A vehicle marked as an SUV was traveling northbound when a tire blew out and he struggled to control it until it struck a tree.
Only one child was wearing a seat belt.
Police Officer Nick Solis told KSAT news that the impact caused six of the seven children in the vehicle to be ejected. Two adults were injured. Only one of the children, who was wearing a seatbelt, remained inside the truck.
The seven children who were traveling were between the ages of 2 and 11, and all were taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, the officer told the same news outlet. The child who was wearing a seat belt suffered less serious injuries but was also examined by doctors.
The driver faces charges
The San Antonio Police Department said the driver of the pickup truck is facing charges of child endangerment. It also made clear that if the children had been wearing seat belts, they might not have been so badly injured.
The accident remains under investigation. The American Automobile Association (AAA) suggests that there are several measures that drivers should take into account before driving to avoid problems such as a tire blowout.
“Seatbelts save lives”
AAA spokesman Daniel Armbruster told News4 SA about the importance of wearing a seatbelt. He noted that nearly half of the people who died in car accidents last year were not wearing a seatbelt while travelling.
“Seat belts save lives. If all drivers wore a seat belt, we would see a dramatic reduction in the number of deaths on our roads,” Armbruster said.
Car crashes are a leading cause of death for children in the U.S., with more than 1,200 children killed and 171,000 injured annually.
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