Safe & Sober Projects with Communities | MINNESOTA |
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In the summer of 1994, Minnesota's seat belt use by the general population was
only 57 percent -- 58 percent in the seven-county metropolitan area around
Minneapolis/St. Paul and 54 percent in Greater Minnesota. Usage in fatal and
serious injury crashes was far lower. That year, 35 percent of crash-related
deaths involved alcohol and 15 percent involved illegal or unsafe speed. These
problems appeared to be pervasive across the state.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Increasing seat belt use by three percentage points and decreasing alcohol involvement by one percentage point. To this end, Minnesota planned to:
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
Minnesota's Safe & Sober Communities is based on the NHTSA
Campaign Safe & Sober initiative. Because of weather conditions, the Office
of Traffic Safety (OTS) identified the time periods for activity to be centered
around Christmas, high school proms, Independence Day, and Labor Day.
OTS wrote and distributed a request for proposals for Safe & Sober
enhanced enforcement projects to cities and counties. Twenty-two proposals were
received; fourteen grants were written covering 34 police or sheriff departments.
All grantees attended a day-long meeting, at which they had ample opportunity to
talk to each other and receive background information and tips on implementation
from the OTS and its media relations contractor. Standardized Field Sobriety
Testing (SFST) and Occupant Protection Usage and Enforcement (OPUE) training were
provided without cost to grantees.
RESULTS
Due largely to the Safe & Sober effort, seat belt use rose eight points to 65 percent in the summer of 1995. The metro area rose 10 points, while the rest of the state rose two points. Due to low response rate to the request for proposals from the Greater Minnesota area, only three projects were funded and completed, as compared to 10 in the metropolitan area. A longer lead time and media coverage rectified this before the second year began.
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The media responded well to the project. At least one network-affiliated
television station covered the program during each of the four enforcement waves,
and all three covered the kick-off. Moreover, releases and announcements were
reported in newspapers and on radio stations.
During project hours, thousands of drivers were warned or cited for driving at dangerous speeds or failing to wear their seat belts or place children in child safety seats. A total of 720 impaired drivers were taken off Minnesota's roadways. Preliminary fatality figures on the number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities for 1995 indicate that Minnesota had 597 fatalities in 1995. Compared to the 644 people killed in crashes in 1994, this represents 47 fewer fatalities, a seven-percent reduction.