In recent decades we have come to realize that injuries the most common cause of death to children are often preventable.
The most effective prevention methods involve addressing a specific problem
with a specific solution, and using modern techniques of health education
to bring about behavior change through community campaigns and intervention
In the state of Washington, a group of individuals
and agencies developed and implemented the Washington State Booster Seat
Coalition to decrease deaths and injuries to children riding in cars.
We sought to accomplish this by promoting booster seat use among 4- to
8-year-old children, the group most likely to be improperly restrained.
Using a wide variety of venues and educational media,
we worked to educate the community about the need for booster seats and
created programs to help families overcome financial barriers. In 1999
we formed a broad-based community coalition to advise and implement the
campaign. This coalition built upon the successful car-seat training programs
instituted by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission and the Washington
Safety Restraint Coalition, and focused exclusively on booster seat use.
The coalitions formation was followed by the passage of Washingtons
landmark Anton Skeen Act in 2000, the first state booster seat law in
the nation. Following the laws implementation in 2002, the Washington
State Booster Seat Coalition continued to work with the Washington Traffic
Safety Commission on a booster seat campaign.
Our evaluation of the campaign through observations
of booster seat use in King County, the most populous county in the state,
demonstrated that we were able to increase booster seat use from 13 percent
in 1999 to 57 percent in 2003.
The purpose of this manual is to help others learn
from our experience in improving motor vehicle safety for children, and
adapt our model to the needs of their communities. Well-done interventions
can make a difference. We hope that this manual will show you how.
Click here for the campaign guide manual. It does not includes Appendix A (List of Effective Educational Materials for a Booster Seat Campaign), Appendix B (Resources for More Information), and Reference. Also, below is the manual which is broken down into sections.
**Be aware that it might take a while for your computer to download the file. The resource materials are in PDF file format and require Adobe Acrobat reader to download. The Acrobat reader can be downloaded free from the Adobe web site.**
Building A Booster Seat Campaign: A Guide For Community Organizers, Health Educators and Injury Prevention Specialists