Car seats save 2 boys involved in I-15 crash

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 27, 2007 by Joseph M. Dougherty Deseret Morning News

A rear-end crash Thursday afternoon likely could have killed Karen and Daniel Peterson's two boys.

But Safe Kids Worldwide, a child-safety organization, is praising Karen Peterson for knowing how to buckle her boys into their car seats correctly.

Karen Peterson was headed north on Interstate 15 near 10600 South when traffic abruptly slowed to 20 mph. About 30 seconds later, a semitrailer slammed into the back of her station wagon, spinning the car into an exit lane facing the wrong way.

After hitting other cars, Peterson said, the semi drove away.

She tried but could not get her two boys, Logan, 2, and Wyatt, 4 months, out of the car.

Rhonda Parker, a car seat technician with Safe Kids Utah, was on the freeway behind Peterson and stopped to help.

"She knew exactly what to do," Peterson said.

Parker got the boys out, called Janet Brooks, Safe Kids Utah co- coordinator, for more car seats and stayed with Peterson until her husband arrived.

The boys were scared, Brooks said, and Wyatt had some scratches from shattered glass, but they had no serious injuries.

"This is the happy ending that it is because these children were restrained properly," said Diane Shinn, spokeswoman for Safe Kids Worldwide.

Brooks said parents need to be rewarded for doing the right thing and knowing how to protect their children.

In Peterson's case, Brooks said, her reward is two boys, scared but alive.

E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com