Health and safety advocates are working to change the popular view that motor vehicle crashes "just happen." By looking at collisions as preventable events rather than simply as accidents, a community is taking the first step towards reducing its number of crashes.

In DeKalb County, the Safe Communities coalition has been spreading this message for several years. Thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, the coalition will continue promoting the use of safety restraints, educating teen drivers and addressing pedestrian safety.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional injury-related deaths, according to the DeKalb County Board of Health's 2001 Status of Health in DeKalb Report.

Accomplishments of the Safe Communities coalition include: analyzing crash data, generating media coverage about dangerous locations, evaluating pedestrian safety around elementary schools and educating the public. The most recent initiative is the largest so far, promoting the use of booster seats for all pre-K, kindergarten, first and second graders in DeKalb County elementary schools. This program includes an interactive educational program for the students and a free booster seat.

Safe Communities is a program of the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In Georgia, it is sponsored by the Governor's Office of Highway Safety. Safe Communities promotes using a variety of information sources to identify injury problems, involving residents and partners, and creating an effective injury control system.

For more information, contact Anastacia Espada Jacob, Safe Communities coordinator, DeKalb County Board of Health, at (404) 294-3844. Or, visit the following web sites: dekalbhealth.net (DeKalb County Board of Health), gohs.state.ga.us (Governor's Office of Highway Safety) and nhtsa.dot.gov (National Highway Transportation Safety Administration).

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