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PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Observational studies conducted at high schools
in Tarrant County, Texas in 1997, prior to football games and in the
morning before school began, revealed that approximately 82 percent
of adolescent drivers wore seat belts, but that only 48 percent of their
passengers were properly restrained.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
In an effort to provide
instructional information to teenagers about the significance of safe
motor vehicle practices, the Injury Prevention section of Harris Methodist
Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas established the CRASH (Communities for
Responsible Automobile Safety Habits) Force in the spring of 1998. The
CRASH Force program is geared toward adolescents, and its goal is to
decrease teen motor vehicle crash injuries and fatalities throughout
Tarrant County.
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
The CRASH Force is a coalition
of local, state and national partner organizations including among others,
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Harris Methodist
Fort Worth Hospital (HMFWH), Texas Department of Transportation, Mothers
Against Drunk Driving (MADD), several local police departments, Tarrant
County District Attorney's Office, Tarrant County Hospital District
and Cook Forth Worth Children's Hospital.
CRASH Force works with local
high schools in Tarrant County to provide students with an educational
program emphasizing the importance of motor vehicle safety, especially
the use of seat belts. The coalition has developed a survey questionnaire
designed to measure the attitudes and behaviors of students at the beginning
of the school year, and again at the end of the school year. Survey
results will be used to determine the effectiveness of the CRASH Force
instructional program.
A variety of activities are
sponsored by the CRASH Force including:
- Promotional footballs
and t-shirts were designed with the slogan Catch the Habit—Buckle
Up, and distributed at football games and pep rallies
- A popular local country-western
station broadcasts live from participating high schools, reinforcing
the message that always wearing seat belts is important to help save
lives
- A local talk radio station
broadcasts a half-hour program, North Texas Prospectives, featuring
CRASH Force members discussing seat belt use and impaired driving
- CRASH Force sponsors the
Every 15 Minute Program (referring to the fact that every 15
minutes, someone in the United States is killed in an alcohol-related
traffic crash). This program consists of an intense 2 day workshop
for high school students focusing on the dangers of impaired driving
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