Key points
- Proven strategies exist to reduce motor vehicle crashes, injuries, and deaths.
- Prevention strategies include car seat and booster seat use, seat belt use, and reducing impaired and distracted driving.
- These strategies can be successfully tailored to tribal communities.
Overview
Proven strategies to reduce motor vehicle crashes, injuries, and deaths are well established. Strategies to prevent crashes include graduated drivers licensing laws, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) laws, sobriety checkpoints, and ignition interlocks for those convicted of driving while intoxicated. Increasing car seat and booster seat use through child passenger restraint laws that require car seat and booster seat use for all children until at least age 9 years, increasing seat belt use through primary enforcement seat belt laws that cover all seating positions, and high visibility enforcement are proven ways to prevent crash-related injuries and deaths. These strategies can be successfully tailored to tribal communities.
Indigenous Knowledge
In evaluating strategies for tribal road safety, it is important to include Indigenous Knowledge, which is "a body of observations, oral and written knowledge, innovations, practices, and beliefs developed by Tribes and Indigenous Peoples through interaction and experience with the environment." Indigenous Knowledge is "applied to phenomena across biological, physical, social, cultural, and spiritual systems" and includes "extensive observations, lessons, and skills passed from generation to generation."
A Memorandum for Heads of Federal Departments and Agencies in November 2022 stated that "Indigenous Knowledge is a valid form of evidence for inclusion in Federal policy, research and decision making. Indigenous Knowledge and other forms of knowledge do not depend on each other for validation, and each system can support the insights of the other."
Source: Guidance for Federal Departments and Agencies on Indigenous Knowledge
Prevention steps and strategies
Car seat and booster seat use
- Car seat use reduces the risk for injury in a crash by 71–82% for children, when compared with seat belt use alone.12
- Booster seat use reduces the risk for serious injury by 45% for children ages 4–8 years, when compared with seat belt use alone.3
- Car seat and booster seat distribution plus education programs can increase restraint use.456 These programs help parents and caregivers get new, unused car seats or booster seats and learn how to properly install and use them.456 These programs often include hands-on demonstrations which can help increase proper installation and use.
- Child restraint laws require children riding in vehicles to be buckled up in approved restraints such as car seats, booster seats, or seat belts appropriate for their age, weight, and height. These laws are effective for increasing restraint use and reducing child deaths and injuries.478
- Strengthening current laws with booster seat provisions that require children who have outgrown car seats to use booster seats until at least age 9 helps reduce injuries and deaths.9101112131415
- Short-term, high-visibility enforcement programs can enhance the effectiveness of child restraint laws, especially if they include broad media coverage.47 These programs are often similar to or conducted in combination with seat belt use programs like Click It or Ticket; however, they should be conducted in an equitable and culturally centered manner (see example below).
Safe Native American Passengers (SNAP) Course
Seat belt use
- Seat belt use reduces the risk for death and serious injury by about half for older children and adults.16
- There is strong evidence that primary enforcement seat belt laws that cover all seating positions and high visibility enforcement are effective at increasing seat belt use.717 Prior work has explored how to conduct this in a culturally centered manner in some tribal communities.
'Click-It for a Movie Ticket'
Reduce impaired driving
Proven measures to reduce alcohol-impaired driving include:
- Implementing The Community Guide supported strategies that can reduce binge drinking.18
- Enforcing blood alcohol concentration (BAC) laws, minimum legal drinking age laws, and zero tolerance laws for drivers younger than 21 years old.719 These should be conducted in an equitable and culturally centered manner.
- Using publicized sobriety checkpoints. Checkpoints can reduce alcohol-related crash deaths by 9%.20
- Requiring ignition interlock use for all people convicted of alcohol-impaired driving, starting with their first offense21. Additionally, incorporating alcohol use disorder assessment and treatment into interlock programs shows promise in reducing repeat offenses once interlocks are removed.22
- Providing Drug Recognition Expert or Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement program training to law enforcement.7
Sobriety Checkpoints
Prevent teen crashes
- There are proven methods to help prevent teen crashes. Graduated driver licensing (GDL) systems enable new drivers to progressively gain driving experience and driving skills under lower risk conditions by granting driving privileges in 3 stages.
- Research indicates that GDL systems are associated with reductions of about 19% for injury crashes and 21% for fatal crashes for 16-year-olds.23 Best practice GDL systems often include the following components:24252627
- Stage 1: Learner's Permit
- Minimum age of 16 to obtain a learner's permit
- A requirement to have a learner's permit for at least 12 months
- At least 70 supervised practice hours
- Minimum age of 16 to obtain a learner's permit
- Stage 2: Intermediate/Provisional License
- No teen or young adult passengers
- Restrictions on nighttime driving (from 9 or 10 pm until 5 am, or sometimes longer)
- No teen or young adult passengers
- Stage 3: Full Licensure
- Minimum age of 18 to obtain a full license
- Minimum age of 18 to obtain a full license
- Stage 1: Learner's Permit
Resources
CDC resources
Additional resources
- Indian Health Service – Injury Prevention
- The Tribal Injury Prevention Resource Center (TIPRC)
- The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) Findings for Motor Vehicle Injury
- Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Indian Highway Safety Program
- Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Tribal Transportation Program
- Evaluating Disparities in Traffic Fatalities by Race, Ethnicity, and Income
- Arbogast KB, Durbin DR, Cornejo RA, Kallan MJ, Winston FK. An evaluation of the effectiveness of forward facing child restraint systems. Accid Anal Prev. 2004;36(4):585–589. doi:10.1016/S0001-4575(03)00065-4
- Zaloshnja E, Miller TR, Hendrie D. Effectiveness of child safety seats vs safety belts for children aged 2 to 3 years. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(1):65–68. doi:10.1001/archpedi.161.1.65
- Arbogast KB, Jermakian JS, Kallan MJ, Durbin DR. Effectiveness of belt positioning booster seats: an updated assessment. Pediatrics. 2009;124(5):1281–1286. doi:10.1542/peds.2009-0908
- Zaza S, Sleet DA, Thompson RS, Sosin DM, Bolen JC; Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Reviews of evidence regarding interventions to increase use of child safety seats. Am J Prev Med. 2001;21(4 Suppl):31–47. doi:10.1016/s0749-3797(01)00377-4
- Ehiri JE, Ejere HO, Magnussen L, Emusu D, King W, Osberg JS. Interventions for promoting booster seat use in four to eight year olds traveling in motor vehicles. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006;2006(1):CD004334. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004334.pub2
- Glerum KM, Zonfrillo MR, Fleisher L, McDonald CC. Systematic review of child restraint system interventions (2007–2018). Traffic Inj Prev. 2019;20(8):866–872. doi:10.1080/15389588.2019.1666372
- Venkatraman V, Richard CM, Magee K, Johnson K. Countermeasures That Work: A Highway Safety Countermeasures Guide for State Highway Safety Offices, 10th Edition, 2020 (Report No. DOT HS 813 097) [PDF – 641 pages]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; 2021.
- Sartin EB, Lombardi LR, Mirman JH. Systematic review of child passenger safety laws and their associations with child restraint system use, injuries and deaths. Inj Prev. 2021;27(6):577–581. doi:10.1136/injuryprev-2021-044196
- Shaw KM, West B, Kendi S, Zonfrillo MR, Sauber-Schatz E. Urban and rural child deaths from motor vehicle crashes: United States, 2015–2019. J Pediatr. 2022;250:93–99. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2022.07.001
- Benedetti M, Klinich KD, Manary MA, Flannagan CA. Predictors of restraint use among child occupants. Traffic Inj Prev. 2017;18(8):866–869. doi:10.1080/15389588.2017.1318209
- West BA, Dorigo LL, Mattick KA, Yellman MA, Sauber-Schatz EK. Booster Seat Planning Guide. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; 2021.
- Farmer P, Howard A, Rothman L, Macpherson A. Booster seat laws and child fatalities: a case-control study. Inj Prev. 2009;15(5):348–350. doi:10.1136/ip.2008.021204
- Brixey SN, Corden TE, Guse CE, Layde PM. Booster seat legislation: does it work for all children?. Inj Prev. 2011;17(4):233–237. doi:10.1136/ip.2010.029835
- Mannix R, Fleegler E, Meehan WP III, Schutzman SA, Hennelly K, Nigrovic L, Lee LK. Booster seat laws and fatalities in children 4 to 7 years of age. Pediatrics. 2012;130(6):996–1002. doi:10.1542/peds.2012-1058
- Eichelberger AH, Chouinard AO, Jermakian JS. Effects of booster seat laws on injury risk among children in crashes. Traffic Inj Prev. 2012;13(6):631–639. doi:10.1080/15389588.2012.660663
- Kahane CJ. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Lives Saved by Vehicle Safety Technologies and Associated Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, 1960 to 2012 – Passenger Cars and LTVs – With Reviews of 26 FMVSS and the Effectiveness Of Their Associated Safety Technologies in Reducing Fatalities, Injuries, and Crashes (Report No. DOT HS 812 069). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; 2015.
- Dinh-Zarr TB, Sleet DA, Shults RA, et al. Reviews of evidence regarding interventions to increase the use of safety belts. Am J Prev Med. 2001; 21(4 Suppl):48–65. doi:10.1016/s0749-3797(01)00378-6.
- Guide to Community Preventive Services. Excessive Alcohol Consumption. 2023.
- Guide to Community Preventive Services. CSPTF Findings for Motor Vehicle Injury: Reducing Alcohol-Impaired Driving. 2021.
- Bergen G, Pitan A, Qu S, Shults RA, Chattopadhyay SK, Elder RW, Sleet DA, Coleman HL, Compton RP, Nichols JL, Clymer JM, Calvert WB, Community Preventive Services Task Force. Publicized sobriety checkpoint programs: A Community Guide systematic review. Am J Prev Med. 2014;46(5):529–539. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2014.01.018.
- Guide to Community Preventive Services. Motor Vehicle Injury – Alcohol-Impaired Driving: Ignition Interlocks. 2021.
- Voas RB, Tippetts AS, Bergen G, Grosz M, and Marques P. Mandating treatment based on interlock performance: evidence for effectiveness. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2016;40(9):1953–1960. doi:10.1111/acer.13149
- Masten SV, Thomas FD, Korbelak KT, Peck RC, Blomberg RD. Meta-analysis of GDL laws (Report No. DOT HS 812 211) [PDF – 93 pages]. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. November 2015.
- Ouimet MC, Pradhan AK, Brooks-Russell A, Ehsani JP, Berbiche D, Simons-Morton BG. Young Drivers and Their Passengers: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological Studies on Crash Risk. J Adolesc Health. 2015;57(1 Suppl):S24–35.e6. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2015.03.010
- Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Graduated Licensing Calculator. Arlington, VA: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety & Highway Loss Data Institute; 2022.
- Steadman M, Bush JK, Thygerson SM, Barnes MD. Graduated driver licensing provisions: an analysis of state policies and what works. Traffic Inj Prev. 2014;15(4):343–348. doi:10.1080/15389588.2013.822493
- Curry AE, Metzger KB, Williams AF, Tefft BC. Comparison of older and younger novice driver crash rates: Informing the need for extended Graduated Driver Licensing restrictions. Accid Anal Prev. 2017;108:66–73. doi:10.1016/j.aap.2017.08.015