• 150,000 deaths per year• 2,850,000 hospitalizations• $325 Billion cost to society• Our culture accepts traffic deaths

and injuries as routine

Five Leading Causes of Injury Death1. Traffic Related - 43%2. Homicide/Suicide - 33%3. Poisoning - 6%4. Drowning - 6%5. Burns, Falls, Other - 12%

• Crashes cost society $150 Billion annually -- OF THAT AMOUNT:

• $17 Billion is medical costs• $37.5 Billion is employer costs• $54.7 Billion is lost productivity

• One murder every 31 minutes

• One violent crime every 20 seconds

• One crime every 3 seconds

• One fatality every 13 minutes

• One injury every 16 seconds

• One crash every 5 seconds

• Safe Tribal Communities is a process, not a program.

• Safe Tribal Communities is a coalition centered, data driven injury prevention model.

• Safe Tribal Communities emphasizes motor vehicle crashes as a leading injury prevention issue.

• Safe Tribal Communities looks at transportation injuries and their costs.

• Safe Tribal Communities is most successful when the coalition involves new partners in the process.

• Safe Tribal Communities is geographic-based and involves local residents.

• Injuries are not accidents.• Injuries are predictable and

preventable.• Local people are in the best

position to solve local problems.

• Every tribe has effective groups working to prevent injuries.

Form a core coalitionCreate a tribal profileExamine local injury dataPrioritize injury problems using dataOrganize coalition with subcommitteesIdentify/implement prevention

strategiesMeasure impact and cost benefit

• Identify and recruit stakeholders• Find host or lead organization• Appoint Safe Tribal Communities Coordinator • Enlist keepers of the data• Recruit injury data expert• Identify meeting times & places

• Demographics (age, ethnic background, gender)

• Tribal Members/Tribal Leaders Input

• Roadway user data

• Environmental data

• Emergency department

• Indian Health Service clinics

• Hospital discharge

• Emergency run report

• Police crash reports

• Significant contributor to fatal and nonfatal injuries

• Significant contributor to health care costs

• Disproportionately affects specific population groups

• Major concern of tribal members

Health Officials Police Businesses

Tribal Leaders Tribal Members

Educators

EMS/Fireand many others

• Enforcement strategies• Enact laws or policies• Education/awareness strategies• Engineering and technology

improvements• Evaluating results

• Alcohol impaired driving• Red light running• Non seat belt use• Pedestrian collisions• Non or misuse of child car seats• Speeding or aggressive driving• Inexperienced drivers

• Number of injuries• Hospital costs• Emergency room visits• Behavioral change• Local policies or ordinances• Tribal attitudes• Tribal and outside resources

“Selling a safe communities concept was easy because of our extended family philosophy.

As native people, we all look out for each other, whether related by blood or not.

When someone is killed or injured, we all mourn.” Alta Bruce

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa

• The Pine Ridge SD Safe Tribal Community with the support of the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Dept of Public Safety’s Lakota Highway Patrol is effectively combining awareness campaigns with active enforcement of DWI and occupant protection laws. From 1998 to 1999, the number of drunk drivers decreased by 26% and seat belt and car seat use increased 10 percentage points.

• In a two year period, the Wyandotte (OK) Safe Tribal Communities coalition helped raise seat belt use from 54% to 72%, well above the statewide average for rural communities.

• Today, there are over 25 Safe Tribal Communities coalitions addressing Native American injury prevention nationwide.

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Bureau of Indian AffairsHighway Safety Program

505 Marquette, N.W., Suite 1405Albuquerque NM 87102

505/248-5053http://www.doi.gov/bia/highway_safety/http://www.doi.gov/bia/highway_safety/

index.htmindex.htm

NOTE to PRESENTERS -- PLEASE DO NOT SHOW THIS SLIDEThe "Safe Tribal Communities" presentation is designed to serve as an orientation tool for new coalitions and potential coalition members by giving them a basic understanding of the Safe Communities model of injury prevention and control. Special emphasis is placed on the leading contributor to unintentional injuries and deaths -- motor vehicle crashes.

It starts out with brief summary of the problem, defines the Safe Tribal Communities model, details a checklist for starting a Tribal coalition, shares examples of successful coalitions, and ends with two slides on the useful information and technical assistance people will find at the Safe Communities Service Center Web site and through the BIA Indian Highway Safety Program.

Be sure and review the Notes section of this presentation. It gives you basic guidance and talking points for each of the slides. Also run the presentation in the Slide Show mode to see the order of points on each slide. A couple of slides present the information differently than you might expect.

Presenters are encouraged to modify this presentation to fit necessary time constraints, add your own insights, and customize the presentation to reflect the injury problems and concerns of your Tribe or in your community where the talk is being given to make it more relevant to the local audience.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact the Bureau of Indian Affairs Highway Safety Program.