PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
The motor vehicle crash rate for Christian County, Kentucky was 431 per 100 million motor vehicle miles (MVM) in 1993nearly double the statewide rate of 222 per 100 million MVM for that year. In 1994, the county ranked second in the state in fatal crashes for its population category and ranked third in speed-related and alcohol-related crashes. Hopkinsville, the largest city in Christian County, ranked first in speed-related crashes and second in alcohol-related crashes in the county. Compounding these alarming statistics was the fact that the safety belt use rate in Hopkinsville during 1994 was only 44.3 percent.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
In an effort to reduce the number of motor vehicle crashes throughout Christian County, the Hopkinsville/Christian County Community Traffic Safety Program (CTSP) was developed in 1995. Specific objectives for the program included:

• Reducing the average number of crashes by 15 percent per year
• Reducing the number of alcohol-related crashes by 15 percent per year
• Reducing the number of speed-related crashes by 15 percent per year
• Increasing the safety belt use rate in Christian County to 75 percent by the end of 1995

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
The Hopkinsville/Christian County CTSP was developed by the Hopkinsville Police Department and involved two primary strategies: increased enforcement of moving violations and community education.

Enforcement activities were coordinated through the Traffic Enforcement Team (TET), a partnership of the five major law enforcement agencies in the county (including the Fort Campbell Military Police). Enforcement activities were scheduled as quarterly campaignsdesignated as Zero Tolerance Weekin order to control use of scarce local resources and to encourage voluntary compliance through planned, well-advertised activities. The TET concentrated its efforts in high crash rate areas of the community, and intensified normal enforcement activities through blanket patrols and at sobriety checkpoints. During each Zero Tolerance Week, written warnings were minimized and citations maximized. However, officers issuing any written warning during Zero Tolerance Week wrote the amount of the fine on the ticket to clearly illustrate the cost involved in noncompliance.

The Community Traffic Safety Advisory Council was formed to provide community input into program activities, and serve as a partner in developing media coverage and providing community education. Through this partnership among the community participants and the law enforcement agencies, strategies were developed to alert the public to upcoming patrol activities by using public service announcements, newspaper articles and bulletins. In addition, the founding partner in this effort, the Hopkinsville Police Department, developed an intensive community outreach effort, targeting local schools with educational materials and programs such as Project Graduation, Tie One On, Ghost Out, Safe and Sober, and Kentucky's Get StupidGet Busted campaign.

RESULTS During 1996, the TET generated 8,733 contacts leading to 166 DUI arrests, 561 safety belt citations, and 1,146 hazardous moving violations. The Hopkinsville Police Department provided 225 educational programs to approximately 135,000 people. During the quarterly Zero Tolerance Week activities, 1,565 citations were issued (880 for speeding), and the average area daily crash rate decreased by 11 percent. In comparison with the previous 4- year average, the initial year of the CTSP (1995) achieved a 15.7 percent reduction in traffic crashes. In 1996, the crash rate was reduced 5.2 percent further. An observational survey conducted in Hopkinsville in 1996 revealed a safety belt usage rate of 63.6 percent, compared to 44.3 percent in 1994 and 50 percent in 1995.

FUNDING   Section 402: $109,331   Local: $58,086 CONTACT     Sergeant D.E. Cunningham Highway Safety Officer Hopkinsville Police Department 112 West First Street Hopkinsville, KY (502) 887-4030