The Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, under the umbrella of the National Safety Council, is an intensive education and action campaign by a public/private partnership of automobile manufacturers, insurance companies, child safety seat manufacturers, occupant restraint manufacturers, government agencies, health professionals and child health and safety organizations. Established in June 1996, the Campaign's goal is to educate the public on how to maximize the lifesaving capabilities of air bags while minimizing the risk, and to increase the proper use of safety belts and child safety seats.
Seat belt use is key to maximizing the lifesaving benefits of air bags and to reducing the staggering number of people who are killed and injured in crashes every year. The Campaign has expanded its efforts to increase seat belt and child safety seat use in addition to continuing to promote air bag safety. The Campaign's strategy includes three key elements:
EDUCATE: Through partnerships with more than 150 organizations and corporations and ongoing media outreach efforts, the Campaign continues to aggressively educate America about air bag and seat belt safety. Reaching a constantly changing audience - specifically, first-time parents and new buyers of air bag equipped vehicles - is a priority of the Campaign's education efforts. Additionally, the Campaign is working to make passing stronger seat belt laws a public priority as well as building support for stepped up enforcement of existing laws.
ENACT: The Campaign is working in target states to upgrade seat belt laws across the country. As of May 2002, the Campaign helped pass stronger safety belt laws in seven states and child passenger safety laws in many others. Only 18 states and the District of Columbia now have primary, or "standard" seat belt laws. Standard seat belt laws allow police to stop and ticket a driver solely for failing to use seat belts. Seat belt use in these states is significantly higher than in the 31 secondary law states where police must first ticket a motorist for another violation before issuing a seat belt citation.
ENFORCE: The Campaign is supporting stepped up, high-visibility enforcement of seat belt and child passenger safety laws in states that employ STEP (Special Traffic Enforcement Program), a strategy that has proven very effective in substantially increasing seat belt use rates and reducing crash-related injuries and fatalities. The Campaign has supported such efforts in states such as Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico and New York. Seat belt use in Georgia rose from 62% to 76% during the initial months of the high-visibility enforcement campaign Operation Strap 'n Snap. Seat belt use in New York rose from 74% to 81% after the first wave of its high-visibility enforcement campaign Buckle Up New York. Child restraint use in New Mexico rose from 55% to 74% as a result of the high-visibility enforcement child restraint campaign Operation Buckle Down. The Campaign will be conducting its 10th Operation ABC Mobilization May 20-27, 2002.
For more information, contact the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, National Safety Council, 1025 Conn. Ave., NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20036; (202) 625-2570 (tel.); (202) 822-1399 (fax); E-mail: airbag@nsc.org.