June 2006
Project Update

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Project Updates

Great Lakes Region
Rural Safety Belt Initiative

To effectively address the challenge of increasing safety belt use among vehicle occupants in rural areas, the Great Lakes Regional Rural Safety Belt Initiative was created in January 2005 and includes three critical components:  

1) a targeted outreach and media campaign, 2) a high visibility enforcement effort; and 3) a quantifiable evaluation component.

The region-wide approach is tailored predominately to residents in selected rural areas within the six Great Lakes States: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. The project complements the national "Click It or Ticket" (CIOT) mobilizations and launched its first campaign in May 2005. The second mobilization took place in collaboration with the Region’s Operation CARE Thanksgiving 2005 holiday mobilization November 23 – 27, 2005.

The third and final campaign was completed in May 2006, having immediately preceded the national CIOT campaign.

The region-wide approach is tailored to residents in selected rural areas within the six Great Lakes States: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

The Rural Challenge:

Although at the national level safety belt usage rates are increasing generally, the rate in the rural population did not change in 2004 and has remained well below the national average. Motor vehicle occupants traveling on rural roadways are identified as a high-risk and hard-to-reach group and represent a considerable challenge. To illustrate the depth of the current problem this map identifies the number of rural fatalities in 2004.