KANSAS
Sedgwick County Safe Communities:
Improving Child Restraint Use

 

PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS PROGRAM AREA(S)
  Targets hard-to-reach/at risk population
Easy to replicate
  Safe Communities
Occupant Protection
       
TYPE OF JURISDICTION    
  County    
       
TARGETED POPULATION(S) JURISDICTION SIZE
  Youth   448,050


PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Observational surveys conducted in 1998 in Sedgwick County, Kansas, indicated that the child safety seat use rate for motorists transporting children was unacceptably low. County child safety seat use rates paralleled the use rates statewide, revealing that only 80 percent of children under the age of four and 59 percent of children over the age of four were properly restrained in safety seats or seat belts. Moreover, local data suggested that as many as 99.5 percent of motorists who used child safety seats had installed them incorrectly.


GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of the Sedgwick County Safe Communities project, initiated in 1997, is to increase proper child safety seat use countywide. Objectives of the project, designed to meet the goal of this occupant protection effort, are to:

  • Increase correct occupant restraint use by children aged 13 and under by 5 percent within one year
  • Increase proper restraint use by children with special needs in Sedgwick County
  • Provide child passenger safety training for law enforcement officers, emergency medical services personnel, and health care providers


STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
Using the Safe Communities concept as a vehicle, county and program officials formed a coalition, and developed a series of activities aimed at reaching their child restraint use goals and objectives. Activities included:

  • Conducting an in-depth assessment of current child safety prevention programs and activities
  • Developing a loaner program (based on information collected from the assessment), which provided safety seats for children with special needs
  • Conducting a series of child safety seat check-up events throughout the community
  • Providing child safety seat training and education to health care workers, police and fire department personnel, automobile dealership employees and other interested Sedgwick County residents
  • Involving the local media in a campaign to increase child passenger safety
  • Launching a hotline to provide the public with access to information about child passenger safety. Callers receive details on safety checkpoints and can arrange for a "personal fit" appointment through the hotline


RESULTS
As of a result of the efforts of the Sedgwick County Safe Communities coalition and other participants in the child restraint use program, child safety awareness has significantly increased in the community.

  • Car seat misuse dropped from 99.5 percent in 1998 to 98.3 percent in 1999. Although the goal has not been reached, the severity of child safety seat installation errors found during inspections decreased dramatically to include only minor errors of use
  • Special needs child safety seats had not previously been addressed in the county, although the need had been demonstrated. The program was extremely successful in meeting the needs of this special population
  • Numerous training sessions on proper installation and use of child safety seats were provided to pediatric physicians, the Emergency Nurses Association, local churches, local civic organizations and participants in child birth courses
 

FUNDING
  Section 402:
Local:
$76,335
$21,100
CONTACT  
 

Ronda Lusk, Project Coordinator
Sedgwick County Safe Communities Coalition
929 N. St. Francis
Wichita, KS 67214
(316) 268–5245


NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION

WINTER 2000