August 21, 2006

For immediate release
For more information, contact:
Josh Hester or Bonnie Prigge, (573) 265-2993

EDUCATION AND AWARENESS IS THE KEY TO SAFER ROADS
Seatbelts save lives, engineers say

ST. JAMES—Public education and awareness programs must be a part of the solution to making Missouri’s roadways safer, Matt Myers, District 5 traffic engineer with the Missouri Department of Transportation, told the Meramec Region’s Transportation Advisory Committee during its Aug. 10 meeting.

“We have worked with the engineers and tried to build and engineer safety,” he said. “You can’t build your way out of fatalities.”

With special funding set aside through the federal highway bill, committees have been established in each MoDOT district to help get the safety message out.

District 5 has focused largely on advertising campaigns and, this year, has developed a partnership with the University of Missouri to promote the use of seatbelts and other safe practices. Ads will appear in print media, on television and on the stadium screens during University of Missouri football and basketball games.

Last year, Myers said, District 5 spent approximately $54,000 on the enforcement portion of the program. This allowed participating law enforcement agencies to put 30-45 additional officers on the roadway to target hazardous moving violations.
District 9 has chosen a different strategy that heavily promotes the use of seatbelts.

“We decided that we needed to go on a very local level,” said Chris Rutledge, District 9 planner.

Rutledge and his staff visited with local leaders throughout District 9 to identify safety concerns. Another staff member visited the site of fatal accidents to determine if roadway design or other factors played a role as well as improvements that could be made to reduce the possibility of future fatalities.

“In doing this, we saw the importance of seatbelts,” Rutledge said.

“What we found is that cultural issues [in regards to wearing seatbelts] are going to have to be targeted,” he said. “I’m all about personal choice and freedom, but if you want to save lives, you’ve got to get people to wear seatbelts.”
District 9 is currently running two public awareness campaigns – the “Buckle Up Stencil” and “21 Days” projects – and working to take the “buckle up” message to schools.

Some studies indicate that seatbelt usage among teens is only about 50 percent and even less in rural areas.
The stencil project allows businesses and organizations in the community to borrow a stencil and use paint and reflective beads to paint the “Buckle Up” logo on their parking lots to remind motorists to wear their seat belts. The “21 Days” project is one being utilized among high school students, emphasizing that it takes only 21 days to start a habit, good or bad.

In other business, TAC:

• Heard from Connie Willman, of MRPC, on the funds availability of the fiber-reinforced polymer bridge project. The project has been used to strengthen bridges in Phelps and Washington Counties and funding is still available for use in the Delta Regional Authority counties of Phelps, Crawford, Dent and Washington and their cities. Approximately $150,000 is available to cover 50 percent of the repair costs. Local governments are responsible for 30 percent of the cost, while the University of Missouri-Rolla is contributing the remaining 20 percent.

• Heard progress reports from District 9 Engineer Tom Stehn and District 5 Area Engineer Alan Trampe.

Willard “Decky” Finn of Vienna chairs the TAC and serves as the TAC liaison on the MRPC board. Persons needing more information on MRPC’s Transportation Advisory Committee may contact Kelly Sink-Blair at MRPC, (573) 265-2993. TAC meets every other month and will meet again Oct. 12 at MRPC. Meetings are open to the public.

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