Recommendations On Increasing Seat Belt Use Among African Americans
14 December 2000
U.S. Transportation Secretary Slater WASHINGTON, D.C.--A blue ribbon panel today delivered its report containing 10
recommendations for increasing seat belt use among African Americans to U.S. Transportation
Secretary Rodney E. Slater.
"The violence of crashes is color blind, and the best defense for everyone against injury in a
car crash is buckling up," Secretary Slater said, commending the blue ribbon panel members for their
work. "Safety is President Clinton and Vice President Gore's highest transportation priority, and this
report will help us promote among African Americans and other minorities the need to buckle up."
The recommendations, contained in a report entitled Blue Ribbon Panel To Increase Seat
Belt Use Among African Americans: A Report to the Nation called for education, training and
improved communication strategies to increase seat belt use among African Americans and urged the
American public to address the low seat belt use rates among African Americans as a public health
issue.
Secretary Slater said that he was especially pleased that the panel addressed tough issues like
the need for primary seat belt laws in states and the procedures for collecting, compiling and
analyzing data on traffic stops.
Secretary Slater continued his pledge to work closely with African American leaders involved
in federal efforts to promote seat belt use and noted this work is continuing. For the first time, the
U.S. Department of Transportation yesterday partnered with a church organization, the Congress of
National Black Churches, to help educate African Americans about the safety benefits of seat belts
and child safety seats. Also, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives
(NOBLE) is expected to be among the first to act upon the recommendations at its leadership
meeting in Washington, D.C., Jan. 9-10, 2001.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for African American children through
age 14 and the second leading killer of young black adults ages 15-24.
According to the Department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
black male teens travel fewer vehicle miles than their white counterparts, but they are more likely to
die in a motor vehicle crash. Seat belt use among African Americans continues to be below the
national average and is currently four percentage points lower, an improvement over the 10
percentage point gap that existed in 1996.
With safety as President Clinton and Vice President Gore's highest transportation priority,
highway safety figures nationally have improved. The traffic fatality rate decreased from 1.9
fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1991 to 1.6 in 1999. Overall seat belt use in the
United States increased to 71 percent in 1999, up from 58 percent measured in the first national seat
belt use survey completed in 1994.
Much of this increase is attributed to efforts like Buckle Up America and national Operation
ABC mobilizations that originated in a national strategy announced in 1997 in response to President
Clinton's call to increase seat belt use. Also as part of this national strategy, the country in 1999 --
one year ahead of the target date -- achieved President Clinton's goal of reducing fatalities among
children five and under by 15 percent, when traffic deaths in this group decreased to 555 in 1999
from 652 in 1996.
"I am delighted that members of the panel offered their talents to help increase seat belt use in
the African American community," said NHTSA Administrator, Dr. Sue Bailey. "With some of
America's best minds creating improved approaches to educate the public, we can help save
thousands of lives and prevent countless injuries."
The panel members identified 10 strategy recommendations to increase seat belt use among
African Americans. The panel's report also urged the American public to take action by addressing
as a public health issue the lack of seat belt use in the African American community.
The Blue Ribbon Panel To Increase Seat Belt Use Among African Americans included an
array of distinguished members from the medical, academic, legal, business, athletic, faith-based, law
enforcement and activist communities. Honorary members of the task force included U.S. Surgeon
General David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D.; Dr. Dorothy I. Height, Chair and President Emerita, National
Council of Negro Women, Inc.; and John Maupin Jr., D.D.S., President of Meharry Medical College,
Nashville, Tenn.
Among the panel's 10 recommendations are the following:
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Receives Recommendations from Blue Ribbon Panel
On Increasing Seat Belt Use Among African Americans