About Safe Communities

Updated: October 16, 2006

Adadpted from: "Safe Communities: Taking It To the Streets!"
Published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

There's a deadly epidemic running rampant through our streets, infecting millions of men, women and children each year in communities across our nation. The shocking part is most Americans don't even think of it as a health problem at all.

IT STRIKES SUDDENLY AND WITHOUT WARNING.
Maybe you're running down to the store to pick up a loaf of bread. Perhaps you're taking the family out to dinner, or just on your way to work. Suddenly and without warning, this epidemic strikes another victim every 16 seconds of every minute of every hour of every day. And no one is immune.IF THIS ISN'T A HEALTH CARE CRISIS, WHAT IS?It takes its victims quietly - one here, one there - until before you know it, it's out of control. More than 40,000 otherwise healthy Americans die every year. Over half a million are hospitalized. Another four million end up in emergency rooms. If this isn't an urgent health care crisis in our communities, then what is?

THE EPIDEMIC IS MOTOR VEHICLE INJURIES
And it's caused by the common, everyday, ordinary - but totally preventable - traffic crash. Isn't it about time you and your community did something about it?

IT WOULDN'T HURT TO LIVE IN A SAFE COMMUNITY
Ask your doctor. Most medical conditions are predictable and can either be prevented or controlled. And so can motor vehicle injuries.

Up until now, we've disguised the way we think of traffic crashes and the resulting injuries by labeling them as mere accidents. By doing so, we preserve the myth that crashes simply happen. It couldn't be helped. No one's to blame. They're an inevitable part of life.

Whether you're a safety advocate, medical or health professional, elected official, business person, law enforcement officer, church leader, educator or a concerned citizen, Safe Communities can change the way your community looks at injuries, and influence actions it takes to reduce its injury problems.

With thousands of people killed and millions more injured nationwide in traffic crashes every year, the Safe Communities approach has been proven to assist communities in reducing the all too frequent occurrence and unwarranted, wasteful costs of transportation related injuries.

The Safe Communities model of injury prevention and control allows citizens to accurately predict when and where motor vehicle-related injuries are most likely to strike next and take the best course of action to keep them from happening at all.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A SAFE COMMUNITY
Cities and towns all across America are experiencing the far-reaching benefits of close COLLABORATION among advocates from the prevention, acute care, and rehabilitation fields.

Communities everywhere are reviewing multiple sources of INJURY AND COST DATA to clearly identify local problems.

Coalitions are forging potent alliances with a wide variety of organizations, resulting in increased resources and a growing number of profitable public-private partnerships.

Safe Communities are actively involving residents in addressing their own local injury problems and in implementing effective programs.

THE COST OF INJURIES IS STAGGERING
Most people aren't aware that, beyond the terrible human tragedy of vehicle crashes, motor vehicle crashes have a hidden economic cost.

Each year, we spend $150 billion as a result of motor vehicle crashes. Nearly ten percent of that is paid by public funds - your tax dollars

$17 billion is spent on medical costs, nearly 85% in the form of higher Medicare costs and more expensive health insurance premiums.

Employers are hit particularly hard. Each year, American businesses pay over $50 billion for the cost of on-the-job and off-the-job crashes.

By tracking the money saved when injuries are reduced, coalitions can clearly show health providers, local leader, businesses, and the public that resources given to injury prevention produce a profitable return on investment to the community.

SAFE COMMUNITIES BENEFIT US ALL
Safe Communities across America are enjoying the benefits of community-based, coalition-led motor vehicle injury prevention programs because people like you are "Taking It to the Streets!"

• GREENVILLE, NC: Traffic fatalities were reduced 11%, injuries 13% and total crashes down 4.7%.
• TWIN FALLS, ID: Bike helmet use soared to 55%, saving nearly $150,000 in emergency room visit costs.
• DUVAL COUNTY, FL: Motor vehicle crash-related injuries are down 45%. A million dollars was raised in the community for prevention.
• OAKLAND, CA: Pedestrian deaths have dropped from 23 to 11 and injuries from 381 to 322.
• CLARKSVILLE, TN: Local donations of $15,000 funded a youth seat belt program, raising use from 55% to 77%.
• PROVIDENCE, RI: Visits to the Emergency Department at Hasbro Children's Hospital plummeted 23% from 603 to 461 in two years.
• MEDINA, OH: $30,000 in donations helped conduct a survey resulting in valuable data and citizen input.
• DALLAS, TX: Child safety seat use increased from 19% to 65% in targeted Hispanic communities and seat belt use rose 15%.

IT'S TIME TO GET INVOLVED
The motor vehicle injury problem has been ignored far too long. The Safe Communities program is a proven and effective way for you to remedy this neglected epidemic in your community.

You can start by finding out what traffic safety and other injury prevention programs are already at work in your community. Then join or form a coalition with others who are concerned about reducing injuries due to motor vehicle crashes.

For more information on joining an existing Safe Communities effort in your community, call your State Highway Safety Office [The North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program in NC] or contact the:

SAFE COMMUNITIES SERVICE CENTER
c/o National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
819 Taylor St., Rm 8A38
Fort Worth, TX 76102
Phone: 817-978-3653 · Fax: 817-978-8339
Email: Safe.Communities@nhtsa.dot.gov
Or visit our extensive Web site at:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/safecommunities

For more information about the Orange County Cafe Communities Program, contact:

Eric Griffin, Coalition Coordinator
Orange County Emergency Management
1914 New Hope Church Rd.
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Phone: 919-968-2050 x235
Email: egriffin@co.orange.nc.us