At an early age, we're taught how imperative it is to wear a seat belt whenever we take a ride in a car.
Whether it be for a quick trip to the grocery store or a long drive a few states over, an accident can occur in a split second, and the decision to be buckled in may be the only difference between life and death.
A group of drivers and their occupants from Prescott, Arizona can attest to this as their seat belts helped them survive a horrifying crash.
The Accident
On October 7, firefighters arrived on the scene of a three-vehicle crash in front of Granite Mountain Middle School and were met with a devastating scene.
They were greeted with a white pick-up truck right-side up atop a red sedan, after colliding with a black truck.
While a shocking sight, all individuals involved in the accident were left unharmed - all thanks to their seat belts.
The driver of the pick-up truck told authorities she was driving northbound on Williamson Valley Road when the black truck - who was travelling in the same direction the next lane over - swerved into her vehicle.
The unidentified driver said that she lost control of her truck and pushed her into oncoming traffic in the southbound lane.
She then hit a black car, which caused her truck to flip through the air and land right-side up on the red sedan. The driver who instigated the accident had allegedly driven off.
One of the pictures posted by the police department depicts the right wheel of the pick-up truck smashed through the windshield of the sedan, which had it's entire top demolished
Only a few feet away, the front side of the black car was also completely crushed.
In a statement posted on Facebook, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said tragedy was adverted as all of the individuals were wearing their seat belts.
"There were two occupants in the red sedan, and one each in the black car and white truck. Most remarkable, no one was injured in this incident. All the people involved were wearing their seat belts.
This is the second accident this week where the use of seat belts has helped avert a tragedy and firefighters would once again like to remind everyone that the use of this simple device saves lives daily."
The Statistics
While this incident could have had a tragic ending, their seat belts saved their lives.
In 2016, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported, buckling up saved nearly 15,000 lives, but close to 2,500 more lives would have been saved if they had worn their seat belts.
NHTSA data also shows that the older children get, they're less likely to use their seat belts. In the same year, 262 children aged eight to 12 died following a car accident. Nearly half of them weren't wearing their seat belts.
Between 1960 and 2012, seat belts saved 329,715 lives, which is more than any air bags, energy-absorbing steering assemblies, and electronic stability control devices have combined.