|
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
The
Hispanic population of the United Sates is increasing at a rate seven
times faster than the U.S. population as a whole. By the year 2000,
Hispanic Americans will constitute approximately 11 percent of the population.
As the Hispanic population continues to increase, the lack of safety
belt use among members of this community has become a matter of increasing
concern to traffic safety advocates. In particular, Hispanic children
are not being properly restrained in child safety seats. As a result,
motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for Hispanics under
the age of 24.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
To address the problem
of low safety restraint use among Hispanics in New Jersey, the Administrator
of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), joined
with a New Jersey congressman to host a Child Passenger Safety Seat
Clinic on June 22, 1998. Objectives of the safety seat clinic included:
- Encouraging the proper
use of child passenger safety seats to reduce unnecessary and preventable
injuries and fatalities
- Alerting parents to the
fact that they may not be placing their children in child safety seats
correctly
- Enlisting the media to
publicize the event, and deliver the message to those not attending
the clinic
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
The
principal strategy of the Child Passenger Safety Seat Clinic was to
involve the Hispanic media in covering the event for its news value,
so that the child safety restraint message would be delivered to other
Hispanic communities in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut media
market. Program developers realized that the media plays a vital role
in delivering noteworthy messages to the public, and that it has the
ability to influence and change behaviors and beliefs. The Region 2
Office of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
was able to attract Telemundo, one of only two Spanish language television
broadcast networks in the United States, to cover the event. To attract
Telemundo, Region 2 staff chose to:
- Send press
advisories to media networks five days prior to the clinic
- Hold the
clinic at the beginning of the week, in the early afternoon, not on
the weekend
- Prepare
press kits in Spanish
- Keep the
press conference short, and limit the number of speakers
- Prepare
talking points so that everyone remained focused on the message
- Invite
Hispanic guest speakers
- Become acquainted
with reporters covering safety issues, and call them personally to
advise them about the clinic
|
