A teenaged driver of this Toyota truck walked away from this wreck Wednesday on Gipson Road with only a couple of bruises. Authorities said the teen was wearing a seat belt when the truck flipped over.

    When Dane Poole looks out his window and sees the heavily damaged Toyota truck sitting in his yard he becomes very thankful his teenaged son has heeded his commandment of always wearing a seat belt.

    Poole’s son, Jacob Poole, was traveling down Gipson Road two miles from the family’s home Wednesday when the 15-year old came around a curve only to see a car in the middle of the roadway. Poole said his son, in his attempt to miss the car, slipped off the shoulder where he hit a raised driveway. A motorist who was trailing behind Jacob Poole’s truck said he was going about 40 mph.

    “When he hit the driveway that just launched him into the air,” said Poole. “The truck did a flip in the air and landed on the driver’s side roof.”

    Paramedics and volunteer firefighters who arrived at the scene checked the youngster’s health and found him to be fine. Poole said he remembers the phone call from his son.

    “First he said he was OK but the truck wasn’t too good,” Poole said. “I firmly believe after looking at the scene, if he hadn’t had his seat belt on he would’ve been thrown out the driver’s window.”

    Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie even said he was relieved when he arrived on the scene to see Jacob Poole standing on the side of the road.

    “I just walked up to him and shook his hand,” said Sollie. “I was so proud to hear he was wearing his seat belt and that he was not hurt.”

    Jacob Poole, a student at West Lauderdale High School, attended the seat belt safety program Monday led by Tammy Ryden, the mother of a Norman, Okla. 15-year old who died in 1999 in a traffic accident because she wasn’t wearing a seat belt. Most likely Jacob Poole had heard the same thing from his dad for years.

    “It has never been up for discussion or an option to not wear seat belts in our vehicles,” said Dane Poole. “You get the car keys, you wear a seat belt. Nothing more to say.”

    That insistence is likely why his middle child is at school now and not in a hospital — or worse.