PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

Howard County ranked as one of nine counties in Nebraska targeted by the Nebraska Office of Highway (NOHS) for intervention in all four priority areas of alcohol, speed, occupant protection, and youth related crashes. The three-year baseline percentage for occupant restraint use in Howard County (50 percent) is 13.8 percent worse than Nebraska’s three-year baseline of 63.8 percent. However, Howard County’s baselines for alcohol, speed, and youth related crashes are less than Nebraska’s rates for the same baseline period.

The CLIC-IT program focuses solely on increasing occupant restraint use in Howard County based on the premise that an overall increase in occupant restraint use will lower the number of fatalities in each of the other categories of alcohol, speed, and youth related crashes.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goals of this three-year project are to:

• Increase, by 7 percent, the number of drivers and passengers using restraints when involved in type A and B crashes for a three-year period (1998 through 2000) from the baseline of 50 percent

• Increase, by 2.3 percent, the restraint use by targeting the following groups: students, drivers, passengers, faculty drivers and their passengers in the school parking lot; fans attending sporting events; parents and their children who arrive at the Head Start Center; and senior citizens and their passengers who arrive at the senior center

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

The program included the following strategies and activities:

• Coordinate the appearance of Buckle Bear and a seat belt safety presentation by the St. Paul Chief of Police at the St. Paul Head Start Center. Buckle Bear and Officer Steve visited the center in February to make a presentation and give each child a seat belt safety activity book, special valentine, and beanie bear in a tote.

• Provide a four-hour Child Safety Seat Training for law enforcement officers in Howard County and surrounding areas. The training was held on May 15th with four persons attending. The four-hour training turned into six hours.

• Bring the Batmobile to St. Paul High School before Prom. The Batmobile, a mobile alcohol testing unit that includes a holding cell for arrested individuals, was delivered to the high school on April 28 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. The Fatal Vision goggles that simulate disorientation at various alcohol levels, and the remote control car were used at this activity in which approximately 75 students and 10 teachers participated and received a packet of information.

• Three schools in Howard County will receive the Emergency Nurses Cancel Alcohol Related Emergencies (ENCARE) presentation, with assistance from the Howard County Sheriff's Office. This activity was deferred due to lack of funding.

• Conduct a Teddy Bear Blockade at Mid-Way Island on Highway 92 west of St. Paul. The Teddy Bear Blockade is a checkpoint that distributes teddy bears to youngsters that are correctly buckled in appropriate child safety seats. This blockade was completed on July 28, with the assistance of the Nebraska State Patrol. All vehicles stopped received safety belt/usage information and those buckled up received an incentive reward. The seat belt survey results reflected the following: drivers were restrained 87 percent, passengers restrained 78 percent, and children properly restrained 87 percent. All vehicle occupants were restrained 100 percent before leaving the checkpoint.

• Provide a car crash display at the Howard County Fair. Approximately 1,200 people attended the display booth at the four-day event.

• Complete one Child Safety Seat clinic in Howard County. On August 25, the Clinic was held with eight child safety seats inspected and six seats replaced. Two children were placed in booster seats.

• Conduct final seat belt surveys in the high school parking lot, Head Start center, senior center, and a high school sporting event. The results of the surveys are displayed in the table.

RESULTS

The goal of this project, which was to increase driver and passenger seat belt usage by seven percent over a three-year period, was exceeded. During the project, seat belt usage by drivers increased by eight percent; by passengers 20 percent; and most impressive is that child restraint usage increased by 40 percent.

   FALL 2001