Local teenagers were awarded the “Saved by a belt” award.

SOUTHINGTON, OH (WKBN) – The Ohio Highway Patrol is honoring the lives of two Trumbull County teenagers who survived a crash because they were wearing seat belts.

Joshua Bentley and his friend Jake Jones were awarded the patrol’s “Saved by the Belt” award Monday afternoon.

Cops say Bentley was driving Jones home from a soccer game on Aug. 23 when he lost control of the truck on a curve on Amy Boyle Road in Brookfield. The truck left the road, overturned in a ditch and caught fire.

The 16-year-old boys were wearing seat belts and were able to get out of the truck safely.

“Had they not been wearing it that day, there is no question that they would have been seriously injured or killed in the crash,” said OSHP Warren Post Commander Lt. Daniel Morrison.

Lt. Morrison stresses the importance of wearing a seat belt. He says that of the 15 people killed in crashes in Trumbull County this year, more than half were not wearing seat belts.

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