REGION 5
Emergency Residency Program, NHTSA
and the Buckle Up America! Campaign

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Despite dramatic advances in health care in recent years, injuries remain a major medical problem. They are the leading cause of death for people under age 45, and are also a major drain on our society's economic resources. Motor vehicle crashes are responsible for the largest proportion of injuries.

The states supported by the Region 5 Office of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) include Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Region 5 staff have long recognized the important contributions to traffic safety provided by the medical community. They are also aware that emergency physicians are in a unique position to influence the actions of those with whom they come in contact. These physicians are daily witnesses to the devastating injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes, and the effect these crashes have on unbelted vehicle occupants, their families and friends. They know that if most motor vehicle crash victims had buckled their seat belts, they would have survived the crash or minimized their injuries.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
To help maximize the influence of emergency physicians on the development of their communities, Region 5 personnel provided presentations on motor vehicle injury prevention topics at either the weekly Emergency Department (ED) resident's conference or the Emergency Residency Programs in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio. Using information from these presentations, the physicians were better equipped to:

• Help increase seat belt and child safety seat use in their communities
• Advocate the passage of stronger seat belt laws in their home states
• Actively support law enforcement's efforts to aggressively enforce seat belt and child safety seat laws

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
In 1998, NHTSA Region 5 program staff began to conduct weekly presentations on crash injury prevention to ED resident's conferences and Emergency Residency Programs. Presentation topics included:

• The Buckle Up America! campaign—encouraging public-private partnerships, educating the public about seat belt use, strengthening occupant protection laws and actively enforcing existing laws
• Viewing collisions as preventable "crashes", not accidents
• Aggressive drivers—how to avoid them, and how to positively influence their behavior
• Air bag safety, seat belt use and child safety seat use

RESULTS
A total of 10 Emergency Residency Programs in the Region 5 states have invited regional office staff to speak on injury prevention topics in 1998 and 1999. Average attendance at each site varies from 25 to 60 emergency residents, emergency attending physicians, emergency and trauma nurses and emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Program evaluations following each presentation are very positive. Residency program directors have requested additional brochures and injury prevention materials to distribute to emergency physicians. These Emergency Residency Programs were often unaware of the role NHTSA plays in traffic safety, as well as the resources the agency offers. The partnership formed between NHTSA and the Emergency Residency Programs in Region 5 has been beneficial to both.

SUMMER 1999