The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, in conjunction with American Family Insurance, is taking a regional teen safety belt initiative statewide this year.

Battle of the Belt is an educational program in which local high schools compete against each other to increase safety belt use and potentially save lives. The Ozark Chapter of the Emergency Nurses Association has been involved with Battle of the Belt in several regions.  The coalition is hoping to increase participation by working through its regions to offer the competition to high schools throughout the state. 

Battle of the Belt, which runs from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30, involves various educational opportunities to inform students of the benefits of wearing safety belts, as well as the consequences of not wearing safety belts.  There are three phases to the challenge.  In the first phase, students conduct surprise safety belt checks in the school parking lots to determine the school’s safety belt use rate.  The second phase involves an educational blitz that is peer designed.  After the education blitz, students conduct a final surprise safety belt check to determine if there has been a change in safety belt use. 

At the end of the campaign, two $500 prizes will be awarded statewide to the school with the highest safety belt use and to the school with the most improved safety belt use.  Two $250 prizes will be given to the school in each region with the highest safety belt use and the school with the most improved safety belt use.  American Family Insurance donated the prize money for the initiative. 

Teens are an important audience to target with safety belt messages.  MoDOT, in conjunction with the Missouri Safety Center, recently conducted a study that showed only 56 percent of Missouri teenagers wear safety belts.  Young drivers comprise 10 percent of licensed drivers and are involved in 29 percent of the traffic crashes in the state.  In the past three years, more than 550 young people died in Missouri traffic crashes, and 75 percent were not buckled up.

For more information about Battle of the Belt, contact your regional Blueprint representative, visit www.savemolives.com, under Resources and Programs, Battle of the Belt, or call 800-800-BELT (2358).