Ohio State Highway Patrol hosts 'Saved by the Belt' event at Kings Island
Five individuals became members of the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s “Saved by the Belt” club at Kings Island May 9. (OSHP photos)
On May 9, the Ohio State Highway Patrol partnered with Kings Island to host a “Saved by the Belt” event. The event was held at the amusement park.
The “Saved by the Belt” club is a joint effort by the Ohio Department of Public Safety and the Ohio State Highway Patrol, designed to recognize people who have benefited from their decision to wear safety belts. This is the third “Saved by the Belt” event held at Kings Island, with a fourth event scheduled for this October.
Five individuals became members of the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s “Saved by the Belt” club. Each recipient received a framed “Saved by the Belt” certificate, license plate and license plate bracket. Kings Island provided each recipient and their family members with one-day admission tickets to the park.
Below are the recipients:
- Isabelle Coates, 17, and Madison Harris, 17, both of Wilmington. The crash occurred Oct. 12, 2024, on state Route 73 in Chester Township, Clinton County. A vehicle failed to yield entering the roadway from a private drive, striking Coates’ vehicle and causing her to enter a ditch and overturn.
- Abby Collins, 25, Middletown. The crash occurred Nov. 19, 2024, on Union Road in Turtlecreek Township, Warren County. A vehicle traveled off the roadway, struck a sign and re-entered the roadway, striking Collins’ vehicle head-on. Collins continued off the roadway and struck a pole.
- Richard Rust, 48, Sharonville. The crash occurred on March 2, 2025, on Fields Ertel Road in West Chester Township, Butler County. A vehicle failed to yield entering the roadway, causing a head-on collision with Rust’s vehicle.
- Corey Douglas, 24, Fairfield. The crash occurred on Jan. 15, 2025, on Cincinnati Dayton Road in West Chester Township, Butler County. A vehicle failed to stop at a red traffic signal and struck Douglas’ vehicle in the intersection.
The “Saved by the Belt” nomination is in recognition of wearing a safety belt when involved in a traffic crash, thus avoiding serious injury or death. From 2020 to current, there have been over 268,200 unbelted crashes on Ohio roadways. Of those crashes, 2,680 were fatal crashes. During that same time, more than 62 percent of all fatal crashes involved an unbelted individual.
All of the above statistics and data are from drivers and passengers involved in crashes with an available safety belt. This excludes motorcycles, ATVs, buses and other non- specified units, and non-motorists such as pedestrians.
For up-to-date statistics and crash information related to safety belts, log on to the Patrol’s Ohio Statistics and Analytics for Traffic Safety (OSTATS) Safety Belt Dashboard.
