Updated

Half an hour after Tim Ignasiak was issued a ticket for not wearing a seat belt, his car was struck by a vehicle that ran a red light on an Illinois street, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

But he came out of the crash unhurt because he had buckled up after he was pulled over.

"I didn't get a scratch on me," Ignasiak told the newspaper Friday, a day after the crash. "I'm happy to be alive."

The right front end of Ignasiak's jeep was smashed as it spun around in the intersection. He said he will never again get on the road without buckling up.

"It's a lesson learned," he told the paper.

Click here to read more on this story from the Chicago Sun-Times.