Seat belts save lives on I-5

Seat belts likely saved the lives of a Roseville family and their pet dog involved in a single vehicle rollover on Interstate 5 just north of Delevan Wednesday afternoon, the CHP said.

Zachariah Coder, age unknown, was returning to Roseville from a Bible study camp at Stony Gorge Lake in Glenn County with his 5 children.

Coder was driving a green Dodge Caravan southbound on I-5 when he reportedly fell asleep, according to Officer William Cobb of the Williams-area CHP. Cobb said the driver told investigators he has a diagnosed sleeping disorder.

Coder told officers he woke up when the van began to drift onto the center divide. Cobb said the driver overcorrected, which caused his vehicle to fishtail across both lanes of traffic before rolling multiple times across the center divide before coming to rest near the northbound lane of traffic.

Coder and four of the children were taken by ambulance to Colusa Regional Medical Center. Another child was airlifted to Enloe Medical Center in Chico with moderate head injuries.

The names of the children were not available Wednesday. The children, 2 boys and 3 girls, are between 4 and 12-years old, Cobb said.

“It’s very fortunate,” Cobb said. “Due to the safety restraints no one was ejected and injuries are fairly (minor).”

Colusa authorities will hold the dog, a black Rottweiler, until it is released back to the family.

Contact Rob Parsons at rparsons@tcnpress.com. Contact Andrew Husband at ahusband@tcnpress.com.