GYPSUM, Colorado — Jessie Santoro said she only survived a horrific car crash last year because she wore a seat belt.

Santoro was driving around 75 miles per hour May 16 when she lost control of her Honda Accord, which skidded into the grass median and rolled twice, then stopped in the west lanes of Interstate 70.

“There’s absolutely no way you could live through that without wearing a seat belt,” Santoro said.

Twenty-seven teens, or 63 percent of those killed in car wrecks in 2007, were not wearing seat belts, according to the Colorado State Patrol.

“Safety officials are still very concerned about teenagers who consistently rank among those least likely to buckle up,” the State Patrol said in a statement.

On unincorporated Eagle County roads besides highways, people can be ticketed just for not wearing a seat belt. In other places in the county, not wearing one is a secondary violation — for example, you have to be ticketed for speeding first.

Wearing a seat belt saved Santoro’s life, and that’s what she has told middle and high school students during around a dozen lectures she has given, she said. She also shows them pictures of her crushed car.

“It’s about understanding why it’s important to wear a seat belt,” she said.