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PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
The U.S. 72 highway corridor
connecting Colbert and Lauderdale counties in Northwest Alabama has
been identified since 1993 as a high traffic crash corridor. Annual
crash data for the 62 miles of roadway through the two counties identified
numerous high crash intersections and segments.
In 1995, Colbert and Lauderdale
Counties experienced 4,340 motor vehicle crashes, resulting in 1,540
injuries and 36 fatalities. The majority of these crashes were indirectly
or directly related to the traffic flow on the U.S. 72 corridor. Police
reports indicated a total of 367 alcohol-related crashes, resulting
in 287 injuries and 21 fatalities. According to seatbelt surveys conducted
in the two counties, seatbelt use averaged 43 percent.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
To address safety concerns
along this dangerous highway, the Alabama Department of Transportation
initiated the Shoals 2000 Safe Communities Project in 1996. Using the
Safe Communities concept, the program sought to reduce the number of
traffic crashes along U.S. 72 by 5 percent, and crash-related injuries
by 10 percent. The objectives of the program were to:
- Increase seatbelt and
child restraint use by 10 percent throughout the two counties
- Implement a variety of
events and programs using highway safety committees
- Use data collected to
compile a report and list of recommendations to improve traffic safety
in the bi-county region
- Develop and distribute
a series of highway safety education awareness materials
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
The primary strategy of the Shoals 2000 Safe
Communities initiative was to assemble four individual committees related
to traffic safety: Enforcement, Education, Engineering, Emergency Medical
Services (4 E's). Each committee was comprised of local citizens and
organizations who met to evaluate traffic problems and available resources,
then develop and implement solutions to each problem. Committee highlights
include:
- Enforcement: This committee was comprised
of 42 Federal, state, county and municipal law enforcement departments.
Enforcement activities included overtime patrols, saturation patrols,
and impaired driving checkpoints
- Education: This committee developed and
implemented a comprehensive public awareness campaign, for presentation
via newspapers, radio and television. The campaign conducted 18 press
conferences and created public information materials targeting specific
groups and issues
- Engineering: This committee was comprised
of all city and county engineers within the bi-county region. The
group identified a number of low-cost, high-impact engineering improvements
along the U.S. 72 corridor and requested proposals from the various
government agencies for these improvements
- Emergency Medical Services: Committee
members trained 80 local EMS volunteers in the Emergency Nurses CARE
program. The committee also developed and implemented an emergency
room crash data retrieval system to produce real-time crash data.
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