PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

In rural Clarke County, Mississippi, 7 fatal motor vehicle crashes, 77 injury crashes and 110 property damage crashes occurred in 1994. The majority of these traffic crashes occurred on two roads: Interstate Highway 59 and State Highway 45. In addition, trucking companies frequently travel on Clarke County's 445 county roads, significantly increasing motorists' risk of being involved in crashes. In 1994, two adjoining counties, Jasper and Wayne, experienced 258 and 321 crashes with 3 and 6 fatalities, respectively. Surveys conducted in Clarke, Jasper and Wayne Counties indicated seat belt usage rates to be less than 30 percent, with some areas showing a usage rate of between 10 percent and 15 percent.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of the Clarke County Occupant Restraint Project is to increase safety belt usage and promote safe driving behavior in Clarke County and its neighboring counties. Specific objectives include:

Increasing Clarke County's safety belt usage rate by two percent during the project year

Disseminating highway safety information to the public through posters, video programs, brochures, broadcast and print media and public forums

Extending the project to Jasper and Wayne Counties

Assisting the Office of Highway Safety in holiday traffic safety activities

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

Project personnel established contacts with and delivered information packets to schools, daycare centers, Head Start programs, churches, business organizations, civic/community

Clarke County Occupant Restraint Project (cont'd)

groups, doctors, hospitals, enforcement agencies and other public entities throughout Clarke County. The packets contained details on the Occupant Restraint Project, available presentations, videos, pamphlets and other educational materials related to traffic safety issues. Interested organizations then scheduled appointments for presentations by project staff. During national "Buckle Up America Week" and "Child Restraint Week," additional presentations were made throughout the county and occupant restraint spot checks were conducted at various locations. Promotional items and educational pamphlets were distributed at these spot checks. In addition, occupant restraint usage was promoted during the November and December holidays and pamphlets and flyers were disseminated prior to Labor Day. Other activities included use of the Vince and Larry® crash dummies and coloring and poster contests for elementary school students.

The Enterprise Police Department, Clarke County Sheriff's Department and the Mississippi Highway Patrol (MHP) cooperated to conduct roadblocks throughout the county. The MHP also conducted roadblocks in Jasper County. At these roadblocks, officers checked for seat belt use, child safety seat use, and impaired driving, and also distributed promotional items and traffic safety information.

Local newspapers covered each of these events, and radio stations aired public service announcements, ensuring that the project's message reached a majority of residents. The campaign was extended to Jasper County during the project's second year of operation, and to Wayne County during its third year.

RESULTS

Quarterly safety belt surveys conducted in Clarke County indicated a safety belt use increase from 47 percent in December 1994 to 50 percent in September 1995. More than 100 presentations on the benefits of buckling up and not drinking and driving reached a wide audience throughout all three counties.

Pre- and post-project surveys conducted in Jasper County showed a four percent increase in safety belt usage from September 1994 to September 1995. Although statistics for Wayne County were not finalized, initial reports revealed a slight increase in occupant restraint use.