Seat belt award goes to C-Falls woman

On Aug. 6, Sharon Everton was cruising down Highway 28 en route to Kellogg, Idaho. Her husband, Mark, was driving a separate vehicle a minute or so ahead of her.

The Columbia Falls couple was happily making their way to a car dealership where Sharon was going to trade in her GMC Yukon for a Camaro, a car she always wanted.

And then something went wrong. Sharon said she doesn’t remember exactly what, but the Yukon caught the gravel on the side of the narrow highway and she overcorrected. The SUV swerved and then Sharon lost control.

The SUV came back into the right lane, went into the ditch, flipped end over end and then barrel-rolled three or four times. It came to rest 492 feet from where she left the road, right side up but with a crushed windshield.

Mark didn’t see the wreck, but when he looked in his rear view mirror, he noticed Sharon was no longer behind him. He knew something was wrong, so he turned around.

A retired Newport, Calif. police sergeant, Mark was used to going to accidents. But this was different. This was his wife. Sharon’s arm was badly broken, her mouth was full of dirt, and when he felt her pulse, there was but a faint beat. He thought for sure he’d lost his wife of 21 years.

The wreck happened about four miles from the intersection of Highway 28 and U.S. 93. There was no cell phone service, but passersby immediately began to help. One raced down the road until they found service and called 911.

The ALERT helicopter responded to the scene and flew Sharon’s body to Kalispell Regional Medical Center. Two days later, she was released from the hospital with plates in her arm because the breaks were so bad . She’d also broken her shoulder and injured her toes, but for the most part she was OK.

Sharon survived the wreck because she had her seat belt on, said Montana Highway Patrol Sgt. Randy Owens.

“I haven’t seen this violent a wreck in a long, long time,” Owens said.

Owens presented Sharon with the Saved By A Belt award last week during a ceremony at MHP’s regional headquarters in Kalispell.

The award is not just a statewide recognition, it’s a national one, Owens said, as law enforcement in the state continue to urge people to wear their seat belts. In 75 percent of fatal accidents last year, people were not wearing their seat belts, Owens noted.

Everton feels lucky to be alive and is happy to be part of a seat belt awareness campaign.

“When you make that decision not to wear your seat belt, you are making that choice for everyone in the car, other people on the road and your entire family,” she said. “Everyone thinks that it will not happen to them.”

Sharon never did get the Camaro she wanted. She ended up buying a Jeep, and the Yukon ended up at the scrap yard.