April 14, 2003

Ranging from the Upper Peninsula to the Thumb, four Michigan communities have been chosen to participate in a National Rural Health Association (NRHA) project to improve traffic safety, specifically working to increase safety belt use and child safety seat use.

Each Michigan community – Manistique, Kalkaska, Pigeon and Standish – will receive grant funding to implement grass-roots initiatives to enhance rural traffic safety. The small communities will receive sizable grants of $5,000 each to assist with local efforts to boost safety belt use.

"This is a unique health promotion and injury prevention program," said Marolee Neuberger, Rural Health Initiative Program Coordinator with the Michigan Center for Rural Health. "Community teams, with members from the health, business, education, religious and community sectors, will work together on this issue in order to save lives and reduce injuries."

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a disproportionately high number of crash fatalities involve young male drivers of pickup trucks who live in rural areas of America.

"Our surveys indicate that safety belt use is lower in rural areas of the state than in urban settings," said Betty J. Mercer, division director of the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP). "The reality is that traffic crashes are not unique or isolated to any particular part of our state. So, it doesn’t matter whether a person is driving an isolated dirt road or traveling a crowded highway – safety belts are a necessity."

Community volunteers, in partnership with their local critical access hospitals, are charged with developing a 30-day campaign this May to include community education as well as pre and post safety belt surveys to determine their level of impact. The four communities will hold meetings this month to plan for the May project.

"We think this project has a tremendous likelihood to succeed," said Jamie Dolan, Upper Peninsula coordinator for OHSP. "These programs will be planned and implemented on the community level. These are people everyone knows, and I believe communities will respond positively."

Grants were awarded to four states, Michigan, Colorado, North Dakota and Arizona, as part of an ongoing partnership with the NRHA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Read more press releases from Michigan State Police.