PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Nationally, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for Hispanic Americans ages 24 and younger. Non-use of safety restraints and impaired driving are factors that strongly contribute to this alarming situation. According to data from the National Hispanic Traffic Safety program, Hispanic children have a significantly higher traffic crash fatality rate than non-Hispanic white children, partly because one in four Hispanic children report that they seldom or never wear safety belts. Further, although Hispanics constitute only 9 percent of the mainland United States population, they account for 20 percent of arrests for impaired driving.

The Office of Minority Health Resource Center contends that it is difficult to obtain culturally sensitive and universally appropriate Spanish language safety materials for the Hispanic/Latino population. In addition, these materials often do not adequately consider culture, linguistics and other factors that may influence attitudes and behaviors relating to health status.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
To help promote traffic safety education in Hispanic/Latino populations in Utah, the Salt Lake County Department of Health developed the FIND program in 2000. Primary objectives of the program were to:

• Foster community involvement to identify needs and participate in solutions
• Plan, implement and evaluate culturally sensitive programs to prevent and control traffic crash-related injuries among Hispanic/Latino residents of Salt Lake County

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
Using the Safe Communities model, FIND planners developed a program format consisting of the following components:

• Focus—Credible and trusted leaders in the community will be chosen to facilitate focus groups, to identify lifestyle choices and cultural factors that contribute to traffic crash-related injuries and deaths in the Hispanic/Latino community. Focus groups will help devise innovative interventions
• Intervene—Culturally sensitive and appropriate interventions will be developed, implemented, and evaluated by members of the Hispanic community
• Network—A network of traffic safety community resources will be created to bridge cultural gaps, and to create new collaborative partnerships
• Determine—Program evaluations will be conducted, to determine the effectiveness of the FIND program. Based on these results, additional focus groups will be convened to assist with necessary program modifications

RESULTS
After examining the cultural factors contributing to motor vehicle crash-related injuries and deaths throughout Salt Lake County's Hispanic/Latino community, the FIND program selected several culturally sensitive and population specific interventions, including:

• A local Hispanic/Latino Traffic Safety Fair
• Production of an educational Traffic Safety Video for broadcast on local Spanish television stations
• A Child Safety Seat Education Campaign

The FIND program improved Salt Lake County outreach and prevention programs through the development of culturally appropriate traffic safety interventions for use in the Hispanic/Latino community. The program also helped develop partnerships between several organizations in the community. The FIND program determined that culture was the key component to building sound outreach programs, and expanding the Safe Communities concept to reach diverse cultures and populations.