The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

4024.0: Tuesday, November 18, 2003 - Board 8

Abstract #65142

Shingletown Highway 44 Safety Project: A partnership approach to promoting safer driving

Adele Amodeo, MPH, Partnership for the Public's Health, 505-14th Street, Suite 810, Oakland, CA 94612 and Donna Heppner, Community Education Specialist, Shasta County Department of Public Health, 2650 Breslauer Way, Redding, CA 96001, 530 245 6858, dheppner@co.shasta.ca.us.

The Partnership for the Public’s Health (PPH) funds local health departments and local community groups to work together to develop their capacities to do community-based public health work, including the Shingletown Activities Council and Shasta County Public Health Department. The Shingletown Highway 44 Safety Project is a direct result of a 1999 community-wide survey that revealed “safety on Highway 44” as one of the top community health concerns identified by residents of this rural Northern California community. One of the activities included in this project was the development of a map noting the dates, times, causes, injuries, and fatalities of motor vehicle crashes on Highway 44 (which is also Shingletown’s “main street). The idea was to plot the crashes on the map, see where they were concentrated, and advocate for structural changes or more enforcement in those areas. Participants of this session will learn how the Shingletown Highway 44 Safety Team collaborated with California Department of Transportation and California Highway Patrol and used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to create a “crash map” to share with the community that shows fatal motor vehicle crashes occurring from 1998 to 2001 on the entire 71 miles of Highway 44. (For comparison, a neighboring highway was also included.) The map revealed several surprising results, including the facts that, with the exception of one area, the crashes were literally “all over the map” and none of the primary collision factors were structural. Unfortunately, the majority of the fatalities were caused by driver behavior and/or error.

Learning Objectives:

Keywords: Community-Based Public Health, Injury Prevention

Related Web page: www.partnershipph.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Partnership for the Public's Health; Shasta County Public Health Department; Shingletown Activities Council
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Grant from the Partnership for the Public's Health to my employer

Updating Health Promotion and Disease Prevention to Meet the Needs of Today's Health and Social Challenges

The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA