BROOKINGS – Jennifer Moser, an art teacher at Medary Elementary, was honored by the South Dakota Highway Patrol and presented a “Saved by the Belt” certificate Tuesday by State Trooper Josh Olson for wearing her seat belt. Moser was driving on Highway 14 on Sept. 2 when her vehicle was hit head-on by another car. Two people in the other car died.
“If I wasn’t wearing my seat belt, I would have died,” Moser told a gym full of Medary students Tuesday morning. She listed the many injuries she sustained, including broken bones and organ damage, saying even though she was wearing her seat belt, her injuries were severe enough she could have died, but that wasn’t God’s plan for her.
After about a dozen surgeries, Moser is doing so much more than the doctors thought she’d be able, such as straightening her elbow. She’s grateful she could get treated in Sioux Falls, where her husband, Trevor, and friends could visit, instead of having to go to Rochester, Minn. Even though the accident was bad, something good came out of it, she said.
Moser closed by asking the kids to wear their seatbelts.
That request was echoed by Olson. He challenged the kids to speak up when they see their parents and older siblings not using seatbelts and to ask them to buckle up and wear seatbelts properly with the shoulder strap across their body.
