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PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Every year, more than 2,000 people die in motor
vehicle crashes in the rural areas of Texas, including the small towns
with populations under 2,500. This figure accounts for well over 50
percent of all Texans killed in crashes annually. An additional 70,000
persons are injured in rural settings, accounting for 20 percent of
all persons injured in crashes in Texas. A major factor contributing
to these alarming statistics is the low rate of seat belt use in rural
areas compared with urban regions of the state.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
In an effort to implement
an approach that would encourage seat belt and car seat use among rural
residents of Texas, agents from the Texas Agricultural Extension Service
in selected rural counties adopted the Safe Communities model
in 1997. They focused their efforts on coordinating traffic safety injury
prevention coalitions in 12 rural Texas counties, in order to successfully
address motor vehicle injury interventions. The resulting Family Passenger
Safety and Rural Safe Communities project has the following goals:
- To conduct Safe Communities
and occupant protection training for extension agents in 12 targeted
rural counties
- To coordinate a traffic
safety coalition to include extension agents, health and medical personnel,
law enforcement and other partners to form injury prevention partnerships
in each of the 12 counties
- To organize a minimum
of one youth group in each of the 12 communities who will conduct
educational activities to address identified traffic safety problems
- To conduct pre- and post-observational
safety restraint surveys in participating communities/counties to
evaluate the occupant protection interventions
- To provide traffic safety educational materials,
resources and technical assistance to all 254 counties in Texas through
the County Extension Agents
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
The Family Development and Resource Management
Department of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service at Texas A&M
University administers the project's injury prevention and occupant
protection outreach activities. This includes training, resources, materials
and activities for County Extension Agents in all 254 Texas counties,
as well as the 12 targeted Safe Communities sites. Local agents
receive no additional funding to implement Safe Communities coalition
programs and activities, other than that which the university provides.
This includes educational program packets, exhibits, demonstration equipment
(such as a rollover seat belt convincer), videos, posters, public service
announcements and an internet web site.
Safe Communities and occupant protection
training was conducted for extension agents from the 12 targeted counties
in April 1998. Within the next six months, the agents had facilitated
the establishment of broad-based Safe Communities coalitions
or committees in 11 of the 12 targeted counties. A total of 10 of the
11 rural communities also organized youth groups through school student
councils to conduct special youth educational activities. Three agents
working with the Fort Hood Family Advocacy Program also implemented
a Safe Communities site at the Fort Hood Army Post. This military
post is the twelfth target site, although it is not truly a rural community.
In 10 of the communities, the primary focus was
to increase seat belt use. Pre- and post-surveys were conducted at these
sites.
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