18-year-old killed by exhaust fumes

A campaign is under way for mandatory exhaust inspections in Indiana.

In June 2015, Savannah Bettis and her boyfriend Jessie Hurt were on their way to their local shopping mall in Indianapolis to buy clothes. They were driving in Jessie’s car when Savannah suddenly suffered a severe headache and fainted. Jessie immediately headed towards the nearest hospital, but he also lost consciousness and the car left the road and landed in a ditch.

“The last thing I remember is how my cell phone slipped out of my hand and everything went black,” he says.

At first the cause of the accident was unknown, but soon high concentrations of carbon monoxide were discovered in both of the youths. Jessie survived, but Savannah’s life could not be saved. The 15-year-old car had a leak in the exhaust system which allowed odorless, toxic carbon monoxide to flow into the passenger compartment.

The tragic accident spurred Savannah’s parents to start a campaign for mandatory exhaust inspections for all vehicles. Since the “Pass Savannah’s Law” campaign began in January 2016, they have collected 65,000 signatures and are approaching the intermediate objective of 75,000.

“We will not give up before we see the law enacted,” says Savannah’s father, John Bettis.

Read more about the campaign and the petition here.