NC Safe Communities/Safe Kids Conference
NC Safe Communities/Safe Kids Conference
3/5/02 8:15 a.m., Raleigh, N.C.
- Thank you, Don.
- It's my pleasure to be here to relay the regards and grateful appreciation of Governor Mike Easley and Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett -- along with my personal thanks for being asked to be part of this statewide conference.
- I'm delighted to see that so many of you made time in your busy schedules to be here today.
- It's clear that members of North Carolina's Safe Communities and Safe Kids coalitions are committed to making their communities as safe as they possibly can be.
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The Department of Transportation is proud to partner with these coalitions, and we should be.
- The Safe Communities program has grown to include 22 active coalitions operating in 24 counties.
- That means our Safe Communities coalitions now cover about 55 percent of the state's population.
- And there are 46 established Safe Kids coalitions operating in 50 counties.
- Actually, when you factor in the informal relationships some coalitions have with their neighbors, you find that Safe Kids has a positive impact on nearly three quarters of the state's population.
- I would like to thank each of you for all you do to reduce traffic-related deaths and injuries.
- It's a lot of work, and I know you face some difficult obstacles, but your dedication and commitment will result in a safer place in which you, your family, friends and neighbors can live.
- Your role in identifying and addressing local injury problems cannot be underestimated.
- By partnering with a diverse group of local experts, you are helping to solve the mystery of what sort of traffic-related injuries are occurring and when they are occurring.
You're also tackling the questions of why, where, and to whom they're occurring, and - perhaps most importantly - what can be done to stop them.
- We know that this approach is successful, and the reason is that each of you are as committed to highway safety as we are.
- You do whatever it takes to support law enforcement and educate your community to take the smart road to highway safety.
- With North Carolina's population past the 7 million mark, there is all the more reason for each of us here to take traffic safety seriously.
- If you think your local roads are congested, imagine the sum total of what's happening on North Carolina's more than 78,000 miles of state-maintained roads.
- And don't forget the state has six million licensed drivers and nearly seven million registered vehicles.
- We need your help in all areas of traffic safety, but we especially need your support to increase seat belt use.
- Everyone here knows that seat belts and child safety seats are the best line of defense in a crash, but about 16 percent of our drivers still don't believe it.
- The "Click It or Ticket" model was implemented by eight Southeastern states last spring, all of which reported significant gains in their occupant protection rates.
- Our rate jumped to nearly 84 percent.
- The regional initiative was so successful that it was credited for raising the national belt rate from 71 percent to 73 percent - the highest rate ever.
- As members of active Safe Communities and Safe Kids coalitions, you share in their credit for this important achievement.
- None of us can rest on these laurels; however, and we must prepare now to push this accomplishment to an even higher level.
- I'm proud to tell you that the North Carolina model will again be implemented this spring when a dozen additional states across the nation put it into practice.
- The new Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Dr. Jeff Runge, formerly of Charlotte, expects this effort to again raise the national belt use rate.
- With your help, North Carolina will meet its assigned goal of raising belt use statewide to 85 percent.
- We'll need the support of all Safe Communities and Safe Kids coalitions because - as you well know - there are still those people out there who will just not buckle up.
- If each coalition can develop a snapshot of who is not buckling up in their area and why, then county by county - and with the dedicated and highly visible support of law enforcement - we will increase the seat belt use rate and decrease the number of fatal and serious crash-related injuries on our roadways.
- Again, I thank you for inviting me here today, and I look forward to hearing more great news about how your community is becoming a safer place to live, work and travel.
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