Austin, TX
Austin-area teen caught in Elgin tornado joins TxDOT ‘Click It or Ticket’ campaign
Riley Leon will talk about how sporting a seatbelt helped the day he was caught by a twister in Elgin, Texas.
AUSTIN, Texas — The teenager driver who went viral after his truck was swept up by a twister in Elgin, Texas has joined the Texas Division of Transportation’s “Click on It or Ticket” marketing campaign.
Riley Leon might be talking at a TxDOT media convention on Might 16 on the Texas Capitol about how sporting a seatbelt saved him when he was caught within the March 21 twister.
“It was a pair days after that I spotted that thank God I wore my seatbelt that day as a result of if not, the accident might have been extra tragic. I in all probability would not be right here at this second with out my seatbelt. However fortunately, I wore it and I am right here,” he stated.
Leon was driving dwelling alongside U.S. Freeway 290 after an interview at Whataburger on Mach 21. On the best way dwelling his truck was caught within the path of a twister in Elgin. The teenager’s purple Chevy was flipped on the motive force’s aspect by the twister earlier than falling again on its wheels. Leon was capable of drive away from the scene that day.
A storm chaser out that day caught the ordeal on digicam and posted it on Twitter. The video then went viral.
The division’s marketing campaign reminds drivers and passengers alike concerning the significance of sporting a seatbelt. In keeping with TxDOT, sporting a seatbelt reduces the danger of dying in a crash by 45% for folks within the entrance seat. For these in pickup vans, the danger is diminished by 60%.
In 2021, there have been greater than 3,500 crashes in Texas the place unbuckled folks sustained deadly or severe accidents, TxDOT reported. That is a 14% improve from the earlier 12 months.
Texas regulation requires drivers and all passengers in a automobile to put on a seat belt. Unbuckled drivers and passengers might fines and court docket prices of as much as $200.
KVUE on social media: Fb | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Report: There’s believed to be $340M price of treasure buried throughout Texas
Researchers in Australia say they’ve discovered why infants die from SIDS
‘Keep in your properties’: $50,000 reward for ‘very harmful’ escaped killer nonetheless on the unfastened in East Texas