New details have emerged regarding the tragic Tennessee church van accident which killed a 14-year-old girl and injured several of her friends. The Tennessee Highway Patrol said that the accident happened after the youths attended an all-night Christian rock concert and "lock-in" at a Munford church. It is possible that the 24-year-old driver of the van fell asleep at the time of the accident.
Some of the personal injuries involved in this fatal accident are attributable to the lack of seat belt use of the teens. Of the 12 people in the van, only three were restrained by seat belts at the time of this crash. The three people who had to be taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center were unrestrained according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
Seat belts are a very important way to avoid suffering severe personal injuries in a car accident. Those who fail to wear a seat belt may be ejected from a vehicle and die from blunt force trauma upon landing.
The teen that died as the result of this accident was recently remembered by her fellow church members, who describe the teen as well liked and close to her mother. The teen was killed when the church van flipped over on an off-ramp and struck a pole on the Route 13 exit near Waverly. It was a single car crash and children as young as 12-years-old suffered personal injuries. Relatives of the children said that they are very upset and relying on their religion to get them through this difficult time.
Source: The Daily Herald, "Church van flips, killing girl; Eleven others hurt as vehicle rolls off I-40," Richard Conn and Christine Seiber, July 29, 2011