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Terrifying crash,
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| [Times photo: Jamie Francis] Joshua Moran, 7, kisses his 4-month-old brother, Alex, after they emerged unharmed from a two-vehicle collision Wednesday morning in St. Petersburg. The Honda CRV they were riding in with their parents and their brother flipped onto its roof. The families in both vehicles were uninjured. |
Two vehicles collide. One flips, But seat belts and child seats save the two fortunate families.
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© St. Petersburg Times, published June 1, 2000
ST. PETERSBURG -- The accident had the markings of certain tragedy.
The vehicles collided at an intersection Wednesday morning. In one van, a couple and their daughter didn't have time to brace for the impact. The other vehicle flipped onto its roof with three terrified children and their parents inside.
Police who responded expected the worst. What they found provided an important reminder about the difference a seat belt or child seat can make.
In this crash, everyone was properly buckled in. And no one suffered even a scratch.
"I like a happy ending," said St. Petersburg police Officer Jim Fuller, a 23-year veteran. "I know some people don't like to wear seat belts. When I was a young man, I didn't like wearing them either. But they save lives."
The vehicle that flipped on its roof, a 1997 Honda CRV, was driven by Al Moran, 37, who was driving with his wife, Stefanie Moran, 28, and their sons Joshua, 7; Kyle, 22 months; and Alex, 4 months.
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| [Times photo: Jamie Francis] Miguel Rubio, clockwise from left, Al Moran, Lucy Rubio and Diana Rubio pray together after the Rubios' Plymouth Voyager and Moran's Honda CRV collided. All wore their safety belts. |
The two youngest children were secure in their child seats, while everyone else wore their safety belts.
In the other vehicle, a 1998 Plymouth Voyager, Miguel Rubio, 42, wife Lucy Rubio, 45, also of St. Petersburg, and their daughter, Diana, all wore their seat belts.
Fuller said he believes Mr. Rubio may have gone through a stop sign as he traveled east on 19th Avenue N, hitting the Morans as they drove north on 55th Street about 8:30 a.m.
Fuller decided not to cite Rubio for failure to yield because nobody was injured. At the time of the crash, Rubio told police he was driving about 45 mph.
Fuller said the back doors to the Morans' Honda were forced open during the crash.
"That means somebody would have been ejected from the vehicle if they hadn't been properly restrained," Fuller said. "And that means somebody probably would have been killed."
After the crash, both families gathered in a small circle and prayed together, all thankful that nobody was hurt.
Mrs. Moran has special reason to be thankful. In 1983, she said she was a passenger in a car that was hit by a drunken driver. She was told she would never walk again.
Today, she walks with a barely noticeable limp.
* * *
Times photographer Jamie Francis contributed to this report.
© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.
