Iowa - Buckle Up Baby

Project Characteristics

Child Restraints & Training Videos

Program Areas

Child Passenger Safety

Public Information & Education

Type of Jurisdiction

State

Targeted Population

Youth, Parents, Children

Jurisdiction Size

3,000,000

Funding

Section 402: $125,000

Contact

Lu Simpson
Traffic Safety Bureau
215 E. 7th St.
Des Moines, IA 50319
(515) 281-3907

Digest Listing

IOWA
Buckle Up Baby

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

Each year in Iowa, more than 400 individuals are killed with over 3,000 seriously injured in traffic crashes. On average almost half of those killed were unbelted vehicle occupants. Low use populations identified in the state through crash outcomes data, seat belt citations, and observational surveys identified individuals (ages 16-30), vehicle operators in rural areas, and children (ages 2-5) as low use seatbelt populations.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of the Buckle up Baby program was to enhance the use of child restraints through programs targeted toward enforcement and education activities in an effort to:

Achieve a statewide child restraint use rate of 77 percent;
Coordinate statewide child safety seat education; and
Develop and provide six, 15-30 second public service announcements about the six most common child safety seat usage problems in Iowa.

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

The Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau collaborated with other organizations to develop strategies and activities for the program.

Contract with a public relations firm (KN Integer) to develop six Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for statewide distribution.
Contract with the University of Iowa to conduct a statewide child restraint survey.
Continue efforts to establish at least one fitting station in each of the 99 counties in Iowa.
Contract with the State Department of Health to coordinate a statewide child restraint program.

RESULTS

The University of Iowa conducted a child safety seat survey and determined that the statewide usage rate is now at 79 percent. This exceeded the goal by two percentage points. KN Integer developed, produced and distributed six PSAs on correct child safety seat use statewide. Two hundred videotapes were produced and distributed to hospitals, pediatrician offices and child safety seat instructors. Companion brochures were also developed and printed in English and Spanish. A total of 142 child passenger safety technicians were trained in the NHTSA Child Passenger Safety (CPS) class. Iowa now has a total of 322 trained CPS technicians.

NHTSA