REGION 4 STATES
Collaborative Injury Prevention Effort

 

PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS PROGRAM AREA(S)
  Outstanding collaborative effort   Child Passenger Safety
Injury Prevention
       
TYPE OF JURISDICTION    
  Multi-jurisdictional    
       
TARGETED POPULATION(S) JURISDICTION SIZE
  Child Passenger Safety
Trainers and Educators
  49,000,000


PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
In recent years, motor vehicle crash deaths in the Southeastern states—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, have grown disproportionately in comparison to national population statistics. Fatal Analysis Reporting System data for 1997 indicated that approximately 60 percent of children fatally injured in traffic crashes in the Southeastern states were unrestrained. Although reliable data documenting the improper use of restraint devices in crashes in this region is not collected, traffic safety officials believed that misuse of protective devices contributed to the high fatality and injury rates among children. Injury prevention specialists in the health and highway safety communities recognized the need to educate the public on Child Passenger Safety (CPS) issues.


GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
In 1998, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Region IV office joined with the Southeast Region Injury Control Network to develop a Collaborative Injury Prevention Effort, designed to bring professionals in child passenger safety together to discuss strategies for reducing child passenger crash fatalities, and to adopt region-wide CPS training standards for courses. Specific objectives of the program were to:

  • Establish guidelines on competency and skill levels for practitioners completing short courses in CPS
  • Develop a checklist for basic content elements that must be incorporated in 4-hour, 8-hour and 2-day CPS training
  • Offer specific recommendations on a sample curriculum/course outline designed for presentation in the Southeastern states
  • Identify possible joint state projects to allow sharing of resources and expertise, to address the CPS issue


STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
In September, 1999 a group of child safety experts, State Highway Safety Office occupant protection coordinators, state health department injury prevention staff, representatives from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and CDC-funded Injury Prevention Research Centers met to address the need for continuity in training on child passenger safety. Meeting themes included consensus building, encouraging continuity and fostering collaboration in CPS training. Child passenger safety experts in Alabama, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina developed 4-hour, 8-hour and 2-day CPS training courses to respond to requests for courses that did not require the level of expertise presented in NHTSA's 32-hour standardized technician course. A 30-member review team assessed the course curriculum for content, clarity, technical accuracy and support materials. This team also critiqued NHTSA's International Association of Chiefs of Police Course, Operation Kids. Team members outlined their recommendations for the assigned course and developed practitioners' guidelines. The Passenger Safety Practitioners' guidelines provided training objectives for each course and outlined parameters for skill level and function descriptions for child passenger safety practitioners.


RESULTS
Three CPS courses were developed by the Collaborative Injury Prevention Effort during 1998. These include a 4-, 8- and 16-hour curriculum. The course contents and practitioners' guidelines established and adopted accommodate a variety of audiences. Prevention effort participants became familiar with recent developments in occupant protection. Various speakers representing NHTSA, the National Safety Council and National Safe Kids provided information on CPS training and certification, the Daimler Chrysler Pilot of fitting stations and liability issues relevant to CPS. A report of the proceedings of this meeting, and the content and practitioners guidelines' will be distributed to health departments, state highway offices, certified technicians, instructors and members of the Southern Region Injury Control Network.

 

FUNDING
  None
CONTACT  
 

Belinda Jackson
Regional Program Manager
NHTSA Region 4
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 562-3739


NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION

FALL 1999