TRAFFIC SAFETY PROGRAM MAKES ITS MARK ON CITY

Five years after its inception, Cape Girardeau's Community Traffic Safety Program (CTSP) is an enduring success.

Sharee Galnore, program coordinator, said she's seen seat-belt usage increase from below 7 percent to nearly 70 percent and a decrease in drunk driving incidents two of the program's primary goals.

"We do quite well," Galnore said. "We were one of the first (CTSPs) in the country and certainly one that has been able to maintain its success. Hopefully, that will continue through the future."

As testimony to Cape Girardeau's success, Galnore recently was asked to serve on an eight-member panel to evaluate the 350 traffic safety programs across the country.

The city's CTSP began in 1987 with funds provided by the Missouri Division of Highway Safety. Two years later, the project became a direct program of the city, falling under the supervision of the Training and Community Affairs Department of the police department.

In a five-year report on the program to the city manager's office, Galnore said, "The goal of the program is to address traffic safety issues on a local level by soliciting input from both the public and private sector of the community."

Aside from seat belt use and drunk driving countermeasures, the program also addresses bicycle, motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle and pedestrian safety and speed enforcement.

"The program changes every year and that's good," Galnore said. "We try to represent all aspects of the community.

"Part of the goal of the overall program is to identify a need in community, develop a program to meet the need and make sure it's ongoing."

Many of the programs started by the CTSP have continued under the sponsorship of other community agencies and organizations.

Galnore cited the "traffic offenders program" as one that was started by the CTSP and continues under the guidance of St. Francis Medical Center. Through the program started in 1990 young adults convicted of driving while intoxicated, careless driving and other offenses are sentenced to spend a day at St. Francis Medical Center.

At the hospital, they see, hear and talk to trauma patients and learn of their care from the scene of an accident through rehabilitation, Galnore said.

"They have to see face-to-face the consequences of drinking and driving," she added.

A similar program is aimed at head and spinal cord injury prevention through an hour-long assembly at local high schools. At the assembly, medical personnel and a paraplegic discuss drunk driving and safety belt use.

Other programs have been so successful they've been discontinued, such as "Project Graduation," which included a day-long workshop for high school advisers to show them how to conduct alcohol-free parties for graduation and prom.

"Those have become so successful that in most cases, the schools just do them automatically, so we don't hold workshops anymore," Galnore said.

She said other notable programs are aimed at enforcement of speed limits and drunk driving laws and seat-belt use. The success of such programs can be difficult to assess.

"Most of the things we do are very hard to measure in terms of success," Galnore said. "We can always can look at lives lost from not buckling up or from drinking and driving accidents, but we can't count those who maybe did buckle up because of our program and were saved."

But Galnore said she believes the programs have been at least partly responsible for an increase in seat-belt use in the city.

"In 1984, the city of Cape had a 6.8 percent seat belt usage rate," she said. "Two weeks ago, we took a survey and seat belt use was up to 68 percent, so we've really come a long way on seat belts.

"Our goal is 70 percent participation by end of this year," Galnore added. "We're pushing hard for that, and I think we'll get it.

"We've made certain to keep that as an issue. At the same time, there's a trend toward fewer severe injuries, and fatality rates have dropped or at least not increased."

Galnore said motor vehicle accidents are the number one killer of people age 15-24. Alcohol-related accidents also claim a large number of young people annually, she said.

But as the CTSP has stepped up drunk driving enforcement, alcohol-related accidents have declined.

Through the CTSP's "DWI Overtime Patrol," started in 1988, a patrol car has been dedicated to drunk driving enforcement from 10 p.m. until 3:30 a.m. each weekend.

From 1987 to when the patrol was started in 1988, DWI arrests increased from 348 to 427. Since then, the arrests have declined steadily to 330 in 1991.

"You should reach a point where DWI arrests begin to drop as, you hope, fewer people are drinking and driving," Galnore said.

Also, the number of alcohol related accidents have dropped from a high of 88 in 1986 to 63 last year, while traffic in the city has increased 1.5 to 3 percent annually.

In the coming year, Galnore said the CTSP will again "be pushing hard" for increased seat belt use and for speed enforcement. "That continues to be one of the problems here," she said.

The city recently acquired a "speed trailer" that can be parked on streets where it will display motorists' speed as they pass.

"The speed trailer is a great thing to have as an awareness tool," Galnore said. "A lot of us drive through town and don't realize how fast we're driving.

"It also gives the police department a better idea of where the problem areas in town are in terms of speeding."

Galnore said another new program on the horizon will be a "mock crash" staged at Southeast Missouri State University.

"We'll actually stage a crash, which will involve all of the law enforcement and medical community," she said.

Galnore said the CTSP is heavily dependent on volunteers to help with the various projects. She encouraged anyone interested in helping to contact her at 335-7908.

"It's an ongoing community project, and anyone in the community is welcome to submit input," she said. "Many of the things we do are accomplished only through volunteer effort."