Holmes County Highway Safety Task Force:

Safe Communities Program of Western Kentucky:

Ice Alert Task Force:

In November 1998, a sudden ice storm wreaked havoc in the Miami Valley region of Ohio. Seven people lost their lives in ice-related motor vehicle collisions and many others were injured. Two months later, a police officer and firefighter who were assisting victims of another ice-related motor vehicle collision were killed after being struck by a car. Spurred by tragedies such as these, a number of the region's public safety agencies, health care organizations, and media outlets came together to form the Ice Alert Task Force.

Working together, these groups developed criteria for three categories of weather events which local meteorologists can use to trigger an Ice Alert: (1) freezing rain; (2) mixed precipitation; and (3) rapid freezing of precipitation already on the roadway. When an Ice Alert is declared, the media warns the public about the specific dangers associated with the particular category and what motorists should do to prevent crashes and falls during the Alert. In addition, public safety agencies, emergency medical service agencies, and health care organizations, are warned to prepare for emergencies that may be caused by ice.

For more information, contact James Augustine, MD, Premier Health Care Services, Inc. Telephone: (937) 435-1072; e-mail: jaugustine@phcsday.com

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Holmes County Highway Safety Task Force:

Amish and Mennonite residents comprise about 40 percent of the population of Holmes County, Ohio. Earlier this year, the Holmes County Highway Safety Task Force was approached by a member of the Amish community who asked the Task Force to become involved in buggy safety issues. There are about 30 crashes between buggies and motor vehicles in the county each year. In 1999, five people were killed in such incidents.

The program's first accomplishment was a Health and Safety Day held in collaboration with local public safety agencies and members of the Amish community. The Task Force avoided using the traditional media to publicize the event, knowing it would be ineffective at reaching the Amish community and might attract tourists and curiosity-seekers. Instead, they used "neighbor-to-neighbor" inserts in church newsletters and sent flyers home with students at private Amish schools.

Health and Safety Day was attended by more than 750 participants from Holmes County and three neighboring counties. In addition to buggy safety demonstrations and the distribution of reflective buggy markings and armbands for pedestrians, the event featured a Bicycle Skills Training and Inspection for children and information on other health issues, including agricultural safety and breast cancer screenings. The day's success was indicated by the large number of requests from participants that it become an annual event. A Community Forum on buggy safety markings and road improvements, held two weeks later by the Ohio Departments of Public Safety and Transportation, attracted an overflow crowd, further demonstrating the community's interest in culturally-appropriate traffic safety efforts.

For more information, contact Anne Goon, Holmes County Health Department, (330) 674-5035.

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Safe Communities Program of Western Kentucky:

Program Coordinator Diane Cherry reports that Western Kentucky became concerned when "We looked at statistics and found that McKraken County had the third-highest motor vehicle fatality rate in Kentucky." The program initiated activities that promote restraint use across the life span. For example, an offenders' program for drivers who were cited for not properly restraining a child in a motor vehicle includes an instructional session and a car seat inspection. The $25 program fee (used to purchase child safety seats for those who cannot afford them) is significantly less than the fine for this offense, which is waived for those who attend the class. A program done in cooperation with local preschools measured children and then provided parents with information on the appropriate child restraint device for a child of that height. Television shows produced by the Safe Communities program, with the help of a local community college, demonstrated the proper use of child safety seats and taught parents how to judge when a child should be moved from a child safety seat to a booster seat. Both shows have been broadcast repeatedly on several public access channels.

Older children are not neglected. The Safe Communities program sponsors an occupant protection peer education program in every fifth-grade class in the county. In the middle schools, students receive traffic safety education as part of their arts and humanities requirement. And the county's high schools participate in an annual contest to see which school can attain the highest seat belt use rate. Cherry reports, "When we started, only about 16 percent of our teenagers used seat belts. We've achieved rates as high as 40 or 50 percent during the campaigns. Our starting rates are now in the twentieth percentile. This rate is a lot lower than it should be, but it shows we are having an effect."

The program also works to protect adults. Paducah Gaseous Plant, one of the area's largest employers, has a mandatory seat belt policy. A Safe Communities survey found that only 50 percent of the employees actually buckled up. With the help of Safe Communities, the plant conducted a compliance campaign and achieved a seat belt use rate of 95 percent.

For more information, contact Diane Cherry at (502) 898-6552.

Photographs courtesy of the Safe Communities Program of Western Kentucky