Future Plans And Activities
Under NHTSA’s leadership, a majority of the
50 States conducted Statewide observational surveys of safety belt
use in June 2002 to capture the impact of their contributions to the
May 2002 Operation ABC and Click It or Ticket Mobilizations. Results
from the Mobilizations indicate that the targeted States made impressive
gains in safety belt use and that there is positive momentum across
the country due to these campaigns. Impact data from these campaigns
will be more thoroughly reviewed in the Buckle
Up America Seventh Report to Congress and Fifth Report to the President, which will cover campaign
activities from January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2003.
Program Coordination
Where feasible, NHTSA will plan and conduct nationwide observances, educational
efforts and high-visibility law enforcement activities that support the
objectives of both the occupant protection program and NHTSA’s
impaired driving prevention efforts. By pairing complementary efforts,
NHTSA and its partners in both program areas will maximize limited resources,
boost overall program coordination and avoid unnecessary overlap and
duplication of effort. In addition, this team approach should prove beneficial
to the impaired driving effort, which saw an increase of less than one
percentage point in alcohol-related fatalities in 2002.
Legislation
Because of restrictions that were established under TEA-21, NHTSA is
not permitted to urge State or local legislators to favor or oppose specific
pending State or local legislation, including safety belt use legislation.
However, NHTSA will continue to provide technical support as needed,
such as by developing and making available legislative fact sheets and
tracking ongoing legislative activities in States regarding occupant
protection laws. NHTSA also will continue to provide expert testimony
on the benefits of primary occupant protection legislation when it receives
a proper request to do so.
NHTSA will also continue to track States’ efforts to strengthen
their child restraint laws, through the elimination of gaps in those
laws and by increasing coverage for older child passengers. In keeping
with the agency’s updated best practice recommendation for booster
seat use (issued in June 2002), NHTSA will closely monitor State legislative
developments requiring the use of booster seats by children less than
8-years-old or 4 feet 9 inches tall.
Law Enforcement Activities
NHTSA will continue to strongly support the bi-annual Operation
ABC Mobilizations.
As in 2002, NHTSA will again dedicate much of the FY 2003 Section 157
innovative grant funding to the nationwide implementation of the successful
Click It or Ticket model during the May 2003 and November 2003 mobilizations.
These funds will be used by the States to purchase advertising in key
media markets to support high-visibility enforcement activities. In addition,
for the first time, Congress authorized NHTSA to purchase advertising
promoting the Click It or Ticket messaging on prominent national networks
to be broadcast nationwide in conjunction with the May 2003 Mobilization.
The agency will dedicate other available funding to further evaluate
the effectiveness of the mobilizations. The States will also conduct
evaluations of their efforts to gauge the impact of the mobilizations
on local safety belt usage rates. NHTSA also will provide technical assistance
to the States and will encourage them to purchase broadcast time and
print space (using funds from other sources) to enhance their media campaigns
during the mobilizations.
Outreach and Partnerships
In 2003, NHTSA funded innovative community demonstration programs to
increase safety belt and child restraint use among diverse populations
and those with historically lower than average safety belt use rates
and higher fatality rates – such as African Americans, Hispanics,
Native Americans residents of rural communities, youth and residents
of States with secondary enforcement safety belt laws. The agency also
continued to work with a number of prominent not-for-profit organizations
to organize and conduct community-based public information and education
programs that support law enforcement initiatives.
NHTSA began its implementation of the five-year strategic booster seat
education plan during FY 2003, a key component of which was the awarding
of a three-year community demonstration program to determine effective
ways to increase booster seat use at the local level. Innovative public
education and public awareness efforts, including the agency’s
longstanding occupant protection contract with the Advertising Council,
was also be developed.
NHTSA plans to work during 2003 with the Governors Highway Safety Association
to create an organized Occupant Protection for Children Assessment Program.
The program, which will be designed for implementation by the States,
will be an invaluable tool to strategically plan and manage the human
and material resources necessary to ensure an effective statewide child
passenger safety program addressing the needs of all children.
NHTSA will continue to refine the NHTSA Standardized Child Passenger
Safety Training Program, managed jointly by NHTSA and the American Automobile
Association. This 32-hour program, through which more than 30,000 people
have been trained since its creation in the late 1990s, ensures that
currently-certified, trained instructors and technicians are available
in communities nationwide to help parents and caregivers with correct
child safety seat installation. These individuals also disseminate accurate
and consistent information about child passenger safety to the general
public.
NHTSA will also oversee the development and distribution of targeted,
shorter-term, non-certification child passenger safety curricula. These
alternative programs are designed to stimulate increased participation
of key constituency groups in the child passenger safety arena, including
child care providers, nursing professionals and the law enforcement community.
The curricula will be developed in conjunction with key organizations
serving these groups, including, respectively, the American Academy of
Pediatrics, the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), and the International
Association of Chiefs of Police.
In 2003, NHTSA expanded its five-year occupant protection partnership
with the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), formally established
in June 2002, to other key traffic safety areas. The initial focus of
the partnership is on increasing the use of booster seats among older
child passengers. NADA is making resources available to its member dealerships
to sponsor and support local child passenger safety activities at the
dealership level.
Public Information and Education
In 2003 NHTSA continued to develop public information and education materials
and to provide outreach and technical assistance to the States and agency
partners. The agency currently plans to:
· Acknowledge the sustained and effective leadership provided by
leading African American organizations and institutions that has led to
steady and demonstrable increases in safety belt use in the African American
community.
- Develop innovative media and educational strategies
and partnerships to increase safety belt use by teens, rural residents,
and part-time safety belt users.
- Support efforts to train and certify
more Child Passenger Safety Technicians in diverse and at-risk
communities.
- Stimulate the establishment of additional child
safety seat fitting and inspection stations around the country.
- Organize
news events promoting child safety seat and safety belt use (including
culturally appropriate events and materials for diverse populations)
during Child Passenger Safety Week in February 2003, the Operation
ABC Mobilizations in May and November, and at other peak travel
times.
- Ensure public awareness and understanding of
the agency’s
rating system for child safety seats, as mandated in the
TREAD Act.
- More widely promote NHTSA’s 4
Steps For Kids approach, which seeks to educate consumers about the milestones
for when it is safe to transition child passengers to each of the
four stages of occupant restraint (rear-facing infant seat, forward-facing
toddler seat, booster seat, and adult safety belts).
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