The Vehicle Injury Prevention Program (VIP)

The Vehicle Injury Prevention (VIP) program used a multifaceted public health education campaign to improve restraint use. The program brought together six areas of the community: health care, education, law enforcement, private industry, government, and media sectors. Community safety education and program awareness included brochures, t-shirts, safety videos, literature, demonstrations of proper car seat use, health fairs, and radio, print, and television media. Educators developed student activities, and companies provided educational materials and t-shirts for elementary school children. Law enforcement officers awarded incentives to properly restrained drivers during survey periods. Drivers without proper restraint use were given traffic citations. Government officials promoted efforts to increase proper car seat and seat belt use, and media was used to inform the public about the program and the consequences of improper safety restraint use.

The goal of this program is to increase the proper use of seat belts and car seats.

The program was evaluated using observations of proper restraint use at baseline before the program was initiated, and nine months after implementation. Motorists in the target areas significantly improved their restraint use from 39% pre-intervention to 54% post-intervention (p < 0.05). Restraint use in a comparison community remained unchanged over the same time period.