
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 14, 1990                   TAG: 9003143140
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: associated press
DATELINE: CULPEPER                                 LENGTH: Short

AIR BAGS SAVE TWO HEAD-ON CRASH VICTIMS

When Priscilla Dansteelant and Ronald E. Woody II met at the crest of a hill in rural Culpeper County, the head-on collision could be heard hundreds of yards away.

But neighbors who ran to the scene of the crash Monday, instead of finding the worst, saw both drivers get out of their cars with complaints of only minor injuries and soreness.

"There's no doubt in my mind, the airbags saved them both," said state Trooper G.W. Dawson. "Both cars had them and they both worked."

The 12:45 p.m. accident on Virginia 640 crushed the left front ends of both 1989 cars, but both drivers walked away from the wreckage. Without the airbags, both probably would have received massive head injuries, Dawson said.

Of the 20,723 motor vehicle accidents with injuries in 1988, 20 were in cars with airbags, the Department of Motor Vehicles reported.

by CNB