PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Motor vehicle crashes are the most serious threat to the lives of American teenagers. As both driver and passenger, teenagers are disproportionately involved in crashes compared to drivers in other age groups. In North Carolina in 1995, one in four 16 year old drivers was involved in a motor vehicle crash during the first year of driving. The crash rate for 17 year old drivers was also high—one in five. Research indicated that a significant number of motor vehicle crashes involving teenagers also involved non-use of seat belts and/or use of alcohol.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Developed by the University of North Carolina (UNC) Highway Safety Research Center (HSRC) in 1993, the Youth Safety Program was designed to reduce the incidence of fatalities and injuries for North Carolina teenage motorists through the following objectives:

• Increase seat belt use among teenage drivers and passengers
• Increase awareness of impaired driving issues

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
The primary strategy employed by the UNC HSRC was a program to provide grants of up to $500 to schools that participated in a peer-led effort to increase seat belt use and increase alcohol awareness. The approach included a requirement for participating schools to conduct seat belt use surveys on high school campuses, both as part of their application for the grant, and periodically during the program. However, because the effects of alcohol programs on individual behavior are difficult to monitor, evaluations of the alcohol awareness programs were deemed outside the scope of the project.

Workshops were held throughout the state by HSRC staff to help students generate ideas for school-based seat belt and alcohol use awareness projects. These projects included mock car wrecks, staged with the help of local police, fire departments and emergency medical technicians; and mock trials performed with the help of local attorneys, judges and auto insurance representatives. One project featured a student dressed as the "grim reaper" who handed out coupons for discounts at make-believe funeral parlors to students leaving the school campus unbuckled.

From 1993 to 1996, the Youth Safety Program reached approximately 200,000 students in 240 high schools, in 76 of the state's 100 counties.

RESULTS Average seat belt use rates at participating schools increased 22 percent in 1993, 14 percent in 1994 and 1995, and 9 percent in 1996. Data indicate that 34,000 teenagers who once did not buckle up have begun to do so as a result of the program. Projections demonstrate that the increase in seat belt use among teenagers could save an estimated 30 lives annually.

FUNDING   Section 402: $100,023 CONTACT     Lauren Marchetti University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center 730 Airport Road Bolin Creek Center Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (919) 962–7412