Our Goal:

The purpose of the Region 6 project is to save the lives of teen drivers and their passengers through increased seat belt usage. The participating States in the Region are committed to increasing seat belt use rates within this population and consider this a major objective toward achieving their overall occupant protection program goals. By utilizing a tested strategy, it is believed that a significant increase in seat belt usage can be achieved.

How:

To address this challenge, a two year demonstration project began in July 2008. Four State highway safety offices and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have joined forces to create a collaborative effort. The project is comprised of:

• A specially designed paid and earned media campaign
• Four waves of high visibility enforcement
• Outreach by the States to their teen-focused community partners
• Evaluation of awareness and observed seat belt usage

Resources to support the enforcement, paid media, earned media, outreach and data collection components of the State mobilizations are provided by each State highway safety office. The NHTSA 403 demonstration project funds the technical services of the project coordination, communications and evaluation contractors.

Where:

Resources to support the enforcement, paid media, earned media, outreach and data collection components of the State mobilizations are provided by each State highway safety office. The NHTSA 403 demonstration project provides the resources to support the technical services provided by the project coordination, communications and evaluation contractors.

County Target Maps for Teen Demo:
Louisiana: PowerPoint | pdf
Mississippi: PowerPoint | pdf
New Mexico: PowerPoint | pdf
Texas: PowerPoint | pdf

Through an intensive analysis of the problem identification data, enforcement resources and available funding, with the assistance of the project Planning Team each State has identified the counties where they will recruit law enforcement agencies to participate in the program. These counties will be the sites for the campaign’s enforcement, paid media, earned media and outreach activities. In addition, control areas will be selected for comparison purposes during the project evaluation. Maps have been developed by the NHTSA Region 6 Office which visually depict the core program counties for the teen campaign in each State.

When:

Mobilization Calendar: April/May 2010 (Louisiana):
PowerPoint | PDF

Mobilization Calendar: April/May 2010 (Mississippi & New Mexico):
PowerPoint | PDF

Mobilization Calendar: May 2010 (Texas):
PowerPoint | PDF

Mobilization Calendar: March 2010 (Louisiana):
PowerPoint | PDF

Mobilization Calendar: February 2010 (Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas)
PowerPoint | PDF

Mobilization Calendar: November 2009 (Louisiana):
PowerPoint | PDF

Mobilization Calendar: October 2009 (MS, NM, TX):
PowerPoint | PDF

Mobilization Calendar: May 2009:
PowerPoint | PDF

Who:

• Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas State highway safety offices
• NHTSA Region 6 Office
• NHTSA Washington D.C. Division of Occupant Protection,
• Office of Communications and Consumer Information, and, Division of Injury Prevention Research
• Mercer Consulting Group LLC (project coordinator)
• Preusser Research Group (evaluator)
• The Tombras Group (creative and media)