Local Notes

Volume 3, Number 4 - June 2000

• Anchorage (Alaska) Safe Communities and the Anchorage Police Department are using civilians and police officers as "spotters" to identify vehicles that run red lights. When the team identifies a vehicle, they radio an officer in another car who intercepts and cites the violator. The officers and witnesses are trained to recognize a red light-running offense, and both record the specifics of the offense on special forms. Most drivers, when told that their offense was witnessed by a civilian, do not contest the citation. In October 1999, this program increased the number of citations from the previous October by 400 percent. An observational survey found that red light running decreased during October and that the decrease carried over into November (when the program was not operating). For more information on this program, contact Ron Perkins, Anchorage Safe Communities. Telephone: (907) 929-3941; e-mail: asc1@alaska.net.

• Traffic injuries are the leading cause of injury to children in Riverside, California. To decrease their toll, the Riverside Safe Communities Coalition and the Riverside County Office of Education created a court diversion program for violators of the county's occupant protection laws. The Violators Instruction for Parents program covers the basics of crash dynamics and the proper use of child safety seats and seat belts. Violators must pay a $30 fee to attend the course; anyone else may take it at no cost. During the sessions, which are held in both English and Spanish, car seats are inspected and confiscated if found unsafe, and low-cost car seats are available for purchase. More than 1,000 parents have completed the program, only two of whom have since been cited as repeat offenders. Prior to its implementation, the program was presented to all county court judges, and a procedural manual is now being created to ensure that court rulings are standardized and equitable. The coalition is also conducting classes to increase the police officers' willingness to cite violators of occupant protection laws. Since the program began, Riverside has also experienced an 82-percent decrease in child traffic fatalities and a 15-percent decrease in child traffic injuries. For more information, contact Jill Johnson at the Riverside County Office of Education. Telephone: (909) 369-5740; e-mail: jjohnson@rcoe.k12.ca.us.

• Richmond County has the second-highest crash rate and the highest rate of crashes by teenage drivers in Georgia. Investigation by the Safe Communities Coalition of Augusta revealed that the majority of these crashes are related to aggressive driving. In consequence, the coalition, in cooperation with the Public Service Commission, sheriff's department, and Georgia State Patrol, initiated Operation Safety Net, an effort that maps crash data to target areas for increased enforcement of aggressive driving laws. In the first three days (and one night) of coordinated enforcement, this effort resulted in almost 500 citations. Safe Communities Coalition of Augusta volunteers are teaching high school health classes about aggressive driving and the state's graduated licensing law. Public service announcements on this issue have been developed by the coalition and aired on local media. The efforts of the coalition helped to produce a decrease in traffic crashes resulting in injury by 13 percent over the past five years. For more information, contact Priscilla Bence at the Georgia Department of Human Resources. Telephone: (706) 667-4691; e-mail: pbence@mindspring.com.

  Contributing Factors of Traffic Crashes
  Richmond County
  1994-1998

  

• East Washington Avenue in Madison, Wisconsin, has long been known as an area for "cruising," in which people drive up and down the avenue to socialize and show off their automobiles. Much of this cruising involves unsafe driving, rendering East Washington Avenue Dane County's most "crash prone" street; many of these crashes occur between the prime cruising hours of 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. The Greater Madison Safe Communities Coalition and the Ad Hoc Committee on Cruising recruited neighborhood association leaders for Operation Cruise Control, which combines public education on the dangers of cruising with increased enforcement. During Operation Cruise Control, neighborhood residents record the license plate numbers of cruising automobiles observed driving aggressively or otherwise violating traffic laws. Letters are sent to the vehicle owners, warning them that they were observed cruising, accompanied by a fact sheet on unsafe driving. More than 275 letters were sent out after the first weekend of the campaign. The first three enforcement weekends resulted in 184 citations. The program has received significant media coverage, which should act as a deterrent to unsafe driving in the neighborhood. For more information, contact Cheryl Wittke, Greater Madison Safe Community Coalition. Telephone: (608) 256-6713; e-mail: cwittke@aol.com.

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