Student credits program for saving her life

'Street Smart' helps teach importance of seat belts

By Ginger Pope
Odessa American

Thanks to a safety awareness program, Permian Senior Amanda Vickrey doesn't have to wonder what might have happened if she hadn't been wearing her seat belt the night her car was totaled with her in it.

After the Permian-Midland Lee football game Oct. 14, Vickrey and her friend Garan Godfrey, a junior at Permian, were in an accident on Highway 191. Both only received bruises and cuts. The accident totaled her Ford Explorer Sport.

It was just two days before the accident that Vickrey was scared into wearing her seat belt when she attended the "Street Smart" program at school. "They brought a classmate up there and showed how he would hit if he didn't have his seat belt on," Vickrey said. "It was just exactly like they said."

Before the program Vickrey said she never wore her seat belt. Vickrey lost control of her car when she tried to avoid a large roll of carpet out in the highway. She and her friend were pulled from the car by emergency rescue workers and taken to Midland Memorial Hospital.

Permian Principal Steve Brown said the "Street Smart" program was offered to the school as part of the Student Activities Services. "We want to support activities to give students an opportunity to see the other side of things," Brown said. "The timing couldn't have been better. What happens is you ask 'are these kids really listening?' Well they are listening. Those are two lives saved probably because of the message that was put forward."