Safe Communities
From Spring 1996
Volume III, Number 1
Safe Communities is a major new NHTSA initiative representing the
next generation of traffic safety programs. The Safe Communities
approach . . .
- emphasizes the importance of obtaining and analyzing local data, as
well as of linking traffic safety data with public health, cost, and other
data to provide an accurate picture of the local injury problem and its
effects on the community
- transcends the usual traffic safety partners to include public health,
medicine, emergency medical services, law enforcement, business, and community
organizations in a Safe Community coalition
- places a special emphasis on citizen involvement
- incorporates prevention, acute care, and rehabilitation as essential
components of an integrated and comprehensive injury control system
A Safe Community project begins with a data analysis that identifies particular
injury problems within that community. The Safe Community coalition uses
this analysis to target, design, implement, and evaluate projects to prevent
a targeted injury among a specific group (for example, pedestrian injuries
to elementary school children). Over time, the coalition expands its scope:
identifying and targeting additional injury problems and implementing additional
injury prevention activities.
On March 15, 1996, Dr. Ricardo Martinez, NHTSA administrator, inaugurated
Safe Communities with a live teleconference linking 30 interactive
sites and simulcast over several specialized satellite channels, including
the Law Enforcement Television Network. This event introduced Safe Communities
to thousands of traffic safety and public health, law enforcement, fire
protection, and emergency medical services professionals as well as educators
and community leaders. A workshop that explores the Safe Communities
approach will be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on April 13 and 14,
just prior to Lifesavers 14. For registration information on Safe
Communities: A Vision for the Future, fax a request with your full name
and address to Meetings Management, Inc., at (703)922-7780.
Safe Communities in the South
The Greater Dallas Injury Prevention Center (GDIPC) has incorporated the
Safe Communities approach in its activities since its founding in
August 1994. A Safe Communities Executive Advisory Committee guides
GDIPC's work and promotes community participation. In addition to its Dallas-area
injury prevention activities, GDIPC, with funding from NHTSA, provides Safe
Communities training and technical assistance to other agencies, organizations,
and communities.
Safe Communities in Dallas began with a series of presentations to
community and business leaders to mobilize support and resources. GDIPC
also analyzed the regional mortality, morbidity, and cost associated with
injuries. This study revealed that Dallas County experiences over 550 motor
vehicle collisions weekly, resulting in an average of 119 injuries and 3
deaths each week. A "coalition of interest" was recruited to implement
a campaign to reduce the number of motor vehicle collisions in Dallas. This
coalition included rep-resentatives from AllState Insurance, the American
Automobile Asso-ciation, the Dallas Fire Department, the Dallas Concilio
of Hispanic Services, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Parkland Memorial
Hospital, NHTSA, and the Texas Department of Transportation.
The resulting campaign, Don't Wreck Your Week, was modeled after
a successful intervention used in Edmonton, Alberta. This campaign (which
culminated during the week of February 3­p;10, 1996) included parking
lot seat belt checks and presentations by automobile collision survivors
in churches, educational activities in local schools, designated driver
prom-otions in restaurants, and a media campaign involving drive-time radio
shows, newspapers, and television stations. GDIPC will evaluate the campaign,
measuring success in both process (including the number of households reached)
and outcome (a reduction in traffic crashes and injuries, using baseline
crash data provided by the police department).
In the future, the Safe Communities Executive Advisory Committee
will choose additional topics for major injury prevention campaigns and
recruit additional "coalitions of interest" to implement these
programs.
The GDIPC is also assisting with the implementation of Safe Communities
in Craighead County, Arkansas. A major step was a workshop to introduce
community leaders to the Safe Communities approach. At this workshop,
GDIPC facilitators . . .
- introduced participants to important concepts, including injury as a
public health problem, injury prevention, and the community public health
approach
- used local data to demonstrate the impact of injuries on Craighead County
- explained the Safe Communities process
- discussed the community's next steps
The Craighead County coalition's first program was a holiday season campaign
encouraging people to buy and install smoke detectors. Several recent residential
fires focused public attention on this issue, and the holidays were an opportune
time for people to purchase detectors while shopping.
The coalition, with assistance from the GDIPC and an Arkansas State University
professor, is also designing a system to analyze the county's injuries by
using data from existing data sets, including those from local law enforcement
agencies, schools, EMS providers, and hospitals.
For more information on the GDIPC and its Safe Communities program,
contact Allen Bolton, Director, Greater Dallas Injury Prevention Center,
6300 Harry Hines Blvd., Bank One Building, Suite 300, Dallas, TX 75235.
Phone (214)590-4455.
For more information on Safe Communities, contact your regional NHTSA
office.
http://www.edc.org/HHD/csn/buildbridges/bb3.1/safecomm.html
Revised: October 22, 1996
©1997 Education Development Center, Inc.
