BET and National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration Partnership Raises Awareness in Traffic and Seat Belt Safety

Campaign Leads to a Sharp Increase in Seat Belt Use Among African Americans

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 -- BET's two-year partnership with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) to promote seatbelt safety awareness made great strides increasing seatbelt safety awareness and seatbelt usage among African Americans. Current NHTSA surveys indicate that African Americans currently use safety belts 77% of the time, an eight percent increase since 2000 according to a recent 2003 NHTSA survey. This large increase in seatbelt use can in part be attributed to the strong efforts of the Strap It On campaign that reached thousands of African Americans every day and had a direct impact on seatbelt safety choices and actions.

In 2001, BET partnered with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) under the banner of Buckle Up America, a campaign designed to promote safety belt use, particularly in the African-American community where nationwide usage is at its lowest. Taking the message one step further to save even more lives, BET also partnered with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for the Strap It On campaign, a seat belt and traffic safety awareness campaign targeted towards African American teens. "I am delighted that BET agreed to support our effort to increase safety belt usage and awareness among African Americans," said NHTSA Administrator Jeffrey W. Runge, M.D. "I commend them for their commitment to saving lives."

The Strap It On campaign was the first of its kind with widespread national reach, incorporating a full multi-media safety belt campaign for African-American teens. It came in response to the evidence that the leading cause of death for African American children through the age of 14 and the second-leading cause of death of young black adults 15-24 was motor vehicle accidents.

In April 2002, BET featured public service announcements during its youth program, TEEN SUMMIT, promoting safe habits behind the wheel during the spring and summer graduation period when proms and parties were taking place -- a high-risk for traffic accidents involving teens. Later that year, Strap It On was featured in a segment on safety belt awareness and usage that reached approximately 5 million teens across the nation.

During July 2002, the national Jack & Jill Biennial Convention in Los Angeles, BET and NHTSA conducted a forum discussion with teens from across the country and featured topics regarding traffic laws and other related concerns, airbag safety and injuries to the unbuckled occupant. Teens snapped up the opportunity to communicate with parents, law enforcement personnel and emergency room medical staff in a move to educate more than 200 teens on the benefits of the belt.

The outreach and program activities of Strap It On also included public promotions through billboard advertising at the pre-game events of the 2001/2002 Historically Black College & University football seasons with a reach of more than 75,000 people. Brochures launched early on in the campaign provided a call to action for the African-American community to practice road safety habits, safety facts and crash data, as well as contact information for additional resources.

To expand the reach of Strap It On, BET took the message online with the BET.com website, the Number 1 internet portal for African Americans. With the added reach of BET.com's audience of millions of teens, young adults between 15-24 and Internet surfers, BET.com raised safety belt awareness to a new level. Positioning the NHTSA banners on BET.com's high-traffic website led to an increase of 5,000 additional visitors to the NHTSA website.

"BET has a strong commitment to its audience and the African-American community," said Jackie Willis, BET Vice President of Special Events and Public Affairs. "We are proud to have partnered with NHTSA and serve as a catalyst for improved traffic safety within the African American community."

ABOUT NHTSA

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), under the U.S. Department of Transportation, was established by the Highway Safety Act of 1970, as the successor to the National Highway Safety Bureau, to carry out safety programs under the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 and the Highway Safety Act of 1966. NHTSA is responsible for reducing deaths, injuries and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes. This is accomplished by setting and enforcing safety performance standards for motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment, and through grants to state and local governments to enable them to conduct effective local highway safety programs.

ABOUT BET

BET, a subsidiary of Viacom, Inc. , is the nation's leading television network providing quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs programming for the African-American audience. The BET Network reaches more than 75 million households according to Nielsen media research, and can be seen in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. BET is a dominant consumer brand in the urban marketplace with a diverse group of branded businesses: BET.com, the Number 1 Internet portal for African Americans; BET Digital Networks -- BET Jazz, BET Gospel and BET Hip-Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Event Productions, specializing in a full range of event production services, including event management, venue selection, talent recruitment, sound, lighting and stage production; and BET Books, the nation's leading publisher of African-American themed romance novels under the Arabesque Books label, and publisher of new imprints Sepia and New Spirit.