TRAFFIC SAFETY EFFORT ENJOYS MUCH SUCCESS

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A Cape Girardeau group that started six years ago to promote the use of seat belts and vehicle child restraints has grown into a community effort that's gained statewide distinction.

Sharee Galnore, coordinator of the city's Community Traffic Safety Program (CTSP), said Friday that the program's success confirms the city's residents' strong support for programs that help improve the quality of life in Cape Girardeau.

The city's CTSP recently was recognized in the Missouri Division of Highway Safety's newsletter, Briefings, as a "model traffic safety program for Missouri."

"As coordinator, I feel very fortunate and grateful to the community for the support they give the program," Galnore said. "People ask me when I go to seminars, `How do you get people in the community involved?'

"They have to want to do it. Evidently, there are a lot of people here that want to help."

Galnore said more and more communities are working to achieve Cape Girardeau's successes through CTSPs of their own.

"It's just now really catching on," she said. "There's a lot of traffic safety programs out there, but they're single-focus.

"I think the key to covering a lot of different areas is getting the kind of community involvement we have here."

The CTSP has spearheaded several public awareness programs to combat traffic accidents and their economic burden on the community.

Galnore said that although alcohol-related accidents have declined over the years in Cape Girardeau, she thinks the CTSP's success should be measured in more subjective ways.

"Alcohol-related accidents are down, and DWI's might be down a little," she said. "And, really, that's our goal, to see those things decrease.

"But that's one way to look at the program."

Galnore said the Hopper Road foot bridge, which was built as a cooperative effort between the Southeast Missouri Home Builders Association, the Hawthorn School Parent-Teacher Association and the city engineering department, is an excellent example of the kind of project that more accurately gauges the CTSP's success.

The foot bridge allows Hawthorn school children to cross the narrow Hopper Road bridge without walking in vehicle traffic.

"That's what we're all about," Galnore said. "We want to see the needs out there and try to meet them before there's an accident.

"Those kinds of programs that are helping the community, I think, is where we've been really successful."

Galnore said the CTSP is geared primarily toward educating youth about traffic-safety issues because they represent the highest accident risk among all age groups.

Some of the programs spearheaded by the CTSP include:

Annual project graduation workshop, which teaches teenagers how to organize drug- and alcohol-free parties. The project is sponsored by Southeast Missouri State University.

Head and Spinal Cord Injury Prevention program, which educates youth on how to avoid debilitating spinal cord injuries. The program, sponsored by Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center, is presented to hundreds of students each year.

"We take the program to schools and talk to kids about the seriousness of vehicle accidents," Galnore said. "Yes, a lot of people are killed in accidents, but there are many who end up with serious injuries they have to live with the rest of their lives."

Offender program for high-risk, young traffic offenders. Through the program, Municipal Court Judge Ed Calvin can sentence young traffic offenders to a day-long tour of the St. Francis Medical Center trauma unit.

The program is sponsored by the American Critical Nurses Association.

The program is geared toward 16- to 25-year-olds, and deals with various traffic offenses, including DWI, speeding, and violation of the seat-belt law.

Galnore said the offenders spend time with trauma patients or their families and observe their care. They also participate in role-playing of various disabilities caused by motor vehicle accidents.

Galnore said five to seven people each month have participated in the program since its inception last March.

She said that due to the traffic offenders program's success, Associate Circuit Judge Ben Lewis has asked that his court also be allowed to participate in the program.

Galnore said that although promotion of seat-belt use was the CTSP's primary goal earlier, the program now puts greater emphasis on the dangers of drinking and driving.

She said the CTSP now coordinates alcohol and drug abuse treatment seminars and has 13 groups working at Central and Notre Dame high schools to educate students about drug and alcohol abuse.

"I've had to educate people about the seriousness of alcohol and drug abuse," she said. "Half of the accidents that happen today are alcohol related.

"I see a real trend to promote and make people realize this is a health issue. They kind of think traffic accidents are inevitable and there's nothing you can do about it," Galnore added.

"But there is. You can buckle up, and you can not drink and drive."

Galnore said that in her six years working with youth, she has seen their attitudes change regarding drinking and driving.

"What I'm hearing from kids is they've become much more aware of the seriousness of drinking and driving," she said.

"I don't think in the future we're going to really have to push (the use of designated drivers) because it's so much an accepted practice now. That's real satisfying."

Galnore said one new project that's being planned is construction of a "Safety City" to help educate youngsters about traffic safety.

She said the project would involve construction of a miniature town, complete with streets and traffic signals, where police officers would instruct children in traffic safety.

"That will really be a community project," she said. "The more programs we can implement like that, the more successful we'll be."

Galnore said that while she doesn't anticipate expanding the CTSP significantly, it will continue to undergo changes.

"We always change focus and address different issues as they come up," she said. "We'll always be working on alcohol-related issues, and continued use of seat belts. But, I think we'll see more done in bicycle safety."

The CTSP operates with a grant from the Missouri Division of Highway Safety. Unlike some community programs, Cape Girardeau's CTSP operates as part of the police department.