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PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Missouri has a population
of more than five million residents. Each of the state's largest
cities, St. Louis and Kansas City, has a population of approximately
500,000, with the remaining 4 million residents scattered among
smaller communities of under 50,000. Traffic safety education
for the 1 million residents of St. Louis and Kansas City was
facilitated by the large concentrations of people; however, traffic
safety messages were not reaching the majority of Missouri's
residents spread among smaller communities throughout the state.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of the Regional
Traffic Safety Workshops was to raise awareness of the importance
of traffic safety for the majority of Missouri's residents, through
the following objectives:
- Forming partnerships
between traffic safety advocates within communities
- Educate key traffic
safety advocates within each community
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
In 1992, the Missouri
Department of Public Safety, Division of Highway Safety, set
aside a small portion of their State and Community Highway Safety
Grant Program funds (Section 402) to develop and implement a
program that would educate all Missouri citizens about reducing
deaths, injuries, and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle
crashes. Traffic safety planners developed a strategy to initiate
this education effort through a series of workshops to be held
in locations throughout the state. The workshops were developed
in a "train-the-trainer" format, whereby participants
were invited from key organizations who could then implement
further education activities within their local communities.
These organizations included: local law enforcement agencies,
community leaders, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
representatives, school administrators and educators, public
health professionals, hospital/medical professionals, parent
educators, child care organizations, civic organizations and
other advocates for traffic injury prevention.
The one-day workshops featured a series of individual breakout
sessions led by professionals trained in a variety of traffic
safety areas. For example, a session on occupant protection was
led by the coordinator of Think First Kids, who would present
an overview of child restraint issues and current laws. Another
breakout was led by a representative of Mothers Against Drunk
Driving (MADD), who would discuss programs on alcohol and other
drugs. Another breakout provided a discussion of various programs
on public transportation and school bus safety. Other sessions
included presentations on motorcycle safety, pedestrian safety,
public health, public information and education, emergency medical
services, programs for senior citizens, and bicycle safety.
In 1997, the Regional
Traffic Safety Workshops offered Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
to local day care providers, who are required by the terms of
their license to maintain current information on a variety of
subjects. |
