Seat-belt campaign works to educate parents, ethnic groups
It almost seems trite to remind someone to wear a seat belt these days. Yet, it's still a task either overlooked or disregarded daily by thousands of Americans. As a result, some pay with their lives, many of them children.
Car crashes are the No. 1 killer of U.S. children ages 1 to 12, according to www.safercar.gov. But when looking at the African-American and Hispanic populations, there are even greater concerns. Hispanic and African-American children younger than 14 who are in fatal car crashes show lower safety belt use among all other ethnicity categories, a 2008 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report shows.
These concerns will be addressed by an established campaign making its way to Las Vegas called "Buckle Up for Life," or "Abrochate a la Vida."
During a six-week period starting in January, trained medical experts and specialists will work with participants of all ages to deliver vital seat-belt safety information. Participants in the workshops will also be eligible for free child seats, and will be matched with a trained specialist who can help properly install the seats.
Dr. Victor Garcia, director of trauma services at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, helped start the "Buckle Up for Life" campaign in 2004. Like other trauma center doctors, Garcia noticed the number of Hispanic and African-American patients needing care after being in an accident in which they were not wearing a seat belt.
The six-week "Buckle Up for Life" program is a partnership with Toyota that has seen some strong results. In one pilot city, the number of children properly buckled up among participants tripled, the program's administrators said. Its inaugural cities included Cincinnati, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Antonio. The program is now expanding to Las Vegas, Houston, Philadelphia and Orange County, Calif.
Bill Brown is project director for the Center for Traffic Safety Research, a Nevada program funded with federal grant dollars that analyzes traffic accident data throughout the state. In an in-depth look at Nevada's nearly 18,000 trauma center patients from 2005 to 2010, Brown found that 74.6 percent of Hispanic patients wore seat belts. Among the lowest categories of seat-belt wearers were in the Hispanic, 0-12 age range, with 67.9 percent wearing a seat belt. African-Americans in that age range had a 78.6 percent rate while Caucasians topped 82 percent.
OBSTACLES TO OVERCOME
Dr. Rebeccah Brown, a Cincinnati trauma surgeon and co-founder of the "Buckle Up for Life" program, said there are obvious language barriers in place when looking at the Hispanic population. Also, many families are coming from cultures in their homelands that do not encourage wearing seat belts.
"It's not only that they don't have the education with it, but some really don't know it's important to use," she said. "Many will want to hold a child on their lap, which is the most dangerous place to have them."
Add financial constraints for both African-Americans and Hispanics and purchasing car seats and learning about how to use them become low priorities. Older vehicles that make it difficult to properly install a child seat also pose problems, she said.
Lisa Pacheco, director of maternal child services at Children's Hospital of Nevada at University Medical Center, is helping to implement "Buckle Up for Life" in Las Vegas. She noted that transplants from other areas of the country could bring different perspectives on seat-belt use and car seats.
"If you live back East where there's a lot of public transportation, you don't think about using car seats," Pacheco said.
HELP IS ON THE WAY
A $90,000 grant from Toyota to run the program in Las Vegas should bring about 900 new car seats to the valley, Pacheco added. But giving seats away is only part of the equation. About 85 percent of all child seats are installed improperly, she said.
Car-seat installation is another critical component to the "Buckle Up for Life" campaign. The workshops will go over proper installation, but there will be people to help parents install the seats, too. The service will be available at all sites where workshops take place.
(Many people also take advantage of UMC's free car-seat installation program through its family resource center. By calling 383-2229, parents can have a trained specialist who has taken a 40-hour education program install their car seat correctly.)
The "Buckle Up for Life" program usually solicits the help of an area's churches with high Hispanic or African-American populations to spread the word about seat-belt safety, Dr. Brown noted. The program isn't designed for any particular faith or denomination, she added, but the church environment seems to be a good one for keeping someone's undivided attention. Beyond specific seat-belt classes, a minister will often incorporate some element of seat-belt safety into a message; church bulletins will also include information.
"We recognize the church as a vehicle for getting motor vehicle safety into the community," she said.
Contract details are being ironed out between UMC and the Cincinnati-based program. But Pacheco said UMC is not opposed to using churches or other venues to get the word out about seat-belt use. She also suspects it will go far beyond the six-week time frame and well into 2013.
Las Vegas man makes seat belts his mission
One local father has become far more of an expert on seat-belt safety than he would prefer. Brian LaVoie's daughter Hillary died in September 2010 when she was ejected from a car as a result of not wearing her seat belt.
The Shadow Ridge High School homecoming queen and student government leader had just turned 18 and was transferring to the University of Nevada, Reno. The crash occurred on a trip back from the Reno campus.
LaVoie has made it his mission to talk about the importance of wearing seat belts, primarily to high school sophomores and juniors, because those groups are in the age range where learner's permits and licenses are issued. He has taken his "Click-it-for-Hill" program to about 15 valley schools since late 2010.
The father uses pictures and videos of his daughter in his messages in hopes of relating more closely to teens. After his talks, LaVoie asks students to sign pledges to wear safety belts.
"I explain to the students that this was a good kid who followed the rules and made a mistake by not buckling her seat belt," LaVoie said.
Although "Buckle Up for Life" may not be teen-specific, it has the potential of reaching this critical group, too, said Erin Breen, director of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Safe Community Partnership.
The partnership's outreach efforts are primarily targeted toward teens. While she believes great progress has been made with the age group, there is still work to be done.
In a recent teen survey conducted by the partnership at local football games, among 1,400 teen responders, 69 percent said they used seat belts when driving alone, while 71 percent buckled up when parents were in the car.
Only 58 percent buckled up when driving with friends.
The survey seems to fall in line with trauma center records compiled by Bill Brown, project director for the state Center for Traffic Safety Research. Between 2005 and 2010, 69.6 percent of all 13- to 20-year-old trauma center patients were wearing seat belts.
"I always say those with the most life to lose are least likely to be buckled in a crash," Breen said.
The state's "Click it or Ticket" campaign was started in 2001 to address the problem as a whole. Seat-belt use has climbed from 74.9 percent in 2002 to 94.1 percent in 2011. Motor vehicle occupant deaths have dropped from 312 in 2006 to 159 in 2010, figures provided by the Department of Public Safety show.
"This campaign has been a proven countermeasure nationwide, where ultimately people are more afraid of getting a ticket than of dying or being injured," said Traci Pearl, administrator with the department's Office of Traffic Safety.
- BRIAN SODOMA
