(Outstanding Innovative Project)

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
With a crash rate of 82.7 crashes per 1,000, residents, a 1990 Kentucky Transportation Center report ranked Bowling Green, Kentucky as having the highest crash rate per capita among cities with similar population ranges. The report also identified Bowling Green as having more speed-related crashes than any other city in its population range, and as second per capita in incidence of alcohol-related crashes. From 1988 to 1990, alcohol-involved crashes in Bowling Green jumped 33 percent. The increase in crashes led to a substantial increase in crash injuries. Records indicated that causes of crashes included speeding, failure to yield, driver inattention and disregarding traffic control devices.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of the Bowling Green Community Traffic Safety Program (CTSP) is to reduce the number of injuries and deaths from motor vehicle crashes in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Bowling Green Police Department identified the following objectives for the program:

• Establish an active, highly visible traffic enforcement unit
• Promote educational safety programs throughout the area

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
An advisory committee, comprised of representatives from the fields of education, health, the media, emergency services, law enforcement, and the general public addressed the community's highway safety issues, offered guidance to the CTSP and its Traffic Enforcement Unit, and assisted with educational programs and exhibits. The Traffic Enforcement Unit focused on enforcement at high-crash locations during peak traffic times and implemented the following activities as part of the program:

• Officers utilized specially marked, high visible vehicles to enforce moving violations, DUI arrests and underage drinking occurrences
• Officers conducted highly publicized, periodic sobriety road blocks to discourage impaired driving
• The local Alcoholic Beverage and Control Board (ABC), schools, and liquor distributors and establishments joined forces to educate the public about roadblocks and the severe repercussions of poor driving behavior

The CTSP also included educational safety programs and projects that encouraged safe and lawful driving for all age and ethnic groups. Schools, businesses and civic organizations presented the safety programs to students, employees and members. Surrounding counties used the CTSP as a resource center for safety literature and educational/incentive programs to influence driving habits and promote occupant protection usage in the South Central Kentucky Region. CTSP representatives accessed various media sources to reach the population of Bowling Green and provide them information about the program.

RESULTS
Within one year of project implementation, the number of injury crashes fell 5.3 percent, with an injury reduction of 20.5 percent. During the first two years of the program, strict enforcement of state and local alcohol regulations reduced the number of alcohol-involved crashes by 31.1 percent and the number of resulting injuries by 26.3 percent. Pedestrian-involved crashes fell 67 percent during this same time period, and crashes due to speeding, disregarding traffic control devices and driver inattention also decreased. The CTSP helped Bowling Green reach and maintain a safety belt usage rate of over 65 percent.

From 1991 to 1994, The CTSP coordinated 529 educational programs, reaching over 189,000 people. Over 350 individual media contacts were also made during the programs's first years. In addition, the Bowling Green Community Traffic Safety Program received the 1995 NHTSA Administrator's Highway Safety Program of Excellence Award.

FALL 1998