|
Project
Characteristics |
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Comprehensive
Effort
Targeting Safety Belt Use and Underage Drinking
|
|
Program
Areas |
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Occupant
Protection
Alcohol and Other Drugs
Youth Programs |
Type of Jurisdiction |
|
State |
Targeted
Population |
|
Teen Drivers and
Passengers |
Jurisdiction
Size |
|
6.3 million
|
Funding |
|
Section 402:
$48,000
|
Contact |
Brook Chipman
Regional Planner
Exec Office of Public Safety
Gov. Hwy Safety Bureau
One Ashburton Place,
Room 611
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 727-4054
ext. 25557
brook.chipman@state.ma.us
|
|
Digest
Listing
|
|
|
|
MASSACHUSETTS
Safe Prom/Graduation
Campaign
(PDF Version)
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Massachusetts teens are overrepresented in fatal crashes. In 2001,
17-year-olds accounted for 3.6 percent of Massachusetts drivers
involved in fatal crashes, while accounting for only 1 percent of
licensed drivers in Massachusetts.
According to the 2002 Annual Safety Belt Survey, Massachusetts safety belt
use among teen drivers was 50 percent. Safety belt use among teen
front-seat passengers was 49 percent. These usage rates compared
unfavorably to the 53 percent safety belt use among adult drivers under 65
and the 51 percent safety belt use rate among passengers.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of the Safe Prom/Graduation Campaign is to:
-
Increase teen safety belt use;
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Reduce impaired driving and underage drinking by teens; and
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Increase teen driver compliance with speed and other traffic laws.
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
The Governor’s Highway Safety Bureau (GHSB), a program of the Executive
Office of Public Safety, conducted Safe Prom/Graduation Campaigns between
2001 and 2003. The 2003 program implemented the following strategies and
related activities:
-
Created a statewide
contest that allowed juniors and seniors to produce a 30-second safe
driving radio ad with a prom/graduation theme.
-
Promoted the contest
to students by placing a poster in every public and private school in the
Commonwealth.
-
Received 61 ads for
the contest from students at 36 schools.
-
Arranged prizes from
corporate sponsors for the school of the student that submitted the
winning radio ad.
-
Held an event attended
by 300 students at a Boston-area high school to recognize the creativity
of the winning student, as well as to attract media coverage for the
campaign’s safe driving message.
-
Generated substantial
media coverage through the kick-off event, a statewide news release, and
an opinion-editorial article written by the Secretary of Public Safety.
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Aired the winning
radio ad for two weeks during prom season.
-
Covered the cost of
airing the winning radio ad with a $50,000 donation received from one of
the corporate sponsors.
-
Coordinated the
campaign with other GHSB initiatives.
-
Provided mini-grants
to 34 public and private high schools for occupant protection and impaired
driving/underage drinking programming and grants.
-
Provided mini-grants
to 23 local police departments for enforcement of liquor laws during the
prom/graduation season.
-
Distributed State
Police-developed poster on prom/graduation safety to all public and
private schools.
-
Surveyed all private
and public high school principals to determine the usefulness of the
campaign and its materials in 2002 and 2003.
RESULTS
A preliminary evaluation of the campaign
revealed an observed eight percent increase (to 58 percent) in safety belt
use by teen drivers statewide, while teen passenger safety belt use
increased nine percent in the period 2002-2003.
The survey of all private and public high
school principals to determine the usefulness of the campaign and its
materials indicated an increased involvement by schools in the campaign in
two key categories:
The impact of the campaign on teen
involvement in speed and alcohol-related crashes will be known after 2003
data becomes available. |
