The comprehensive community-based traffic safety program : phase II, program assessment for District 2 and District 7, final report.

Jernigan, Jack D. · 1987 · ROSA P / Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC)

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Summary

This report evaluates Phase II of the Comprehensive Community-Based Traffic Safety Program (CCBP), a pilot initiative launched by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to address rising traffic crashes, injuries, and fatalities in Virginia. Although long-term trends showed a reduction in fatalities, recent data from 1982 to 1985 indicated an 18.6% increase in crashes and significant rises in injuries and deaths. The CCBP aims to overcome the limitations of previous local safety efforts—specifically inadequate data and resources—by combining state and local resources to target specific crash problems. Districts 2 and 7 were selected as pilot areas. Following Phase I, which identified problem areas, Phase II focused on assessing existing community resources and programs to support countermeasures in occupant protection, alcohol-impaired driving, selective enforcement, and pedestrian safety. The methodology involved developing a needs list based on Phase I findings and NHTSA guidelines, which was reviewed by state and district officials. Instead of administering questionnaires, the Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC) gathered data through interviews with statewide agency representatives and published sources. The VTRC compiled resource inventories for both districts, detailing organizations, programs, and key individuals involved in traffic safety. The state coordinator and field representatives were tasked with providing administrative assessments of these organizations and identifying local data sources for high-accident locations. Findings revealed that occupant protection, particularly child safety seat loan programs, was well-established in hospitals across both districts. Alcohol countermeasures were also robust, with every locality covered by Alcohol Safety Action Programs (ASAP) and various community groups. Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) grants had been awarded to several communities, though previous evaluations indicated that many projects failed to concentrate enforcement on specific crash-prone sites, days, and times. Pedestrian safety efforts were primarily driven by the American Automobile Association (AAA), focusing on urban areas and school-based education. The report highlighted significant gaps in safety belt usage, with District 2 at 26.7% and District 7 at 33.9%, well below the state average. Additionally, while child seat usage was high, up to 80% of seats were improperly installed. The report concludes that the CCBP should prioritize occupant protection to prepare for Virginia’s Mandatory Safety Belt Use Law effective in 1988, emphasizing public information and enforcement. It recommends establishing district-wide Citizen Advisory Committees to foster community involvement and creating traffic safety hotlines via local media to encourage citizen input. The authors advise that selective enforcement projects must be strategically planned to target specific offenses and locations to be effective. Finally, the report suggests recruiting key individuals from the identified resource inventories to initiate program activities and combat alcohol-impaired driving, leveraging upcoming legislation on drug-impaired driving to reinforce broader DUI prevention efforts.

Key finding

Resource inventories for DMV Districts 2 and 7 identified active occupant protection and alcohol countermeasure programs but revealed significant gaps in targeted selective enforcement and low safety belt usage rates, prompting recommendations for citizen advisory committees and traffic safety hotlines.

Methodology

dataset

Provenance

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Topics

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• regulatory evaluation
• traffic safety culture
• public messaging

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation, policy recommendations
• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes