‘Buckle Up Yurok’ recruits teen leaders

Young Yurok tribal member Peygoy Hedrick, 2, secured in his car seat. Submitted

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional injury and death for American Indians ages 1 to 44. Adult motor vehicle-related death rates for American Indians are more than twice that of other races. You may be asking yourself why this occurs, but studies show that American Indians residing on reservations have a low seat belt and child restraint use rate.

The California Rural Indian Health Board, together with the Yurok Tribal Police Department, received a four-year grant titled “Buckle Up Yurok” (2010–2014) through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to implement effective strategies to address the issue of low seat belt and child restraint use on the Yurok Reservation.

Strategies to reduce motor vehicle crash-related injuries and deaths are well established, and include community education, enforcement of occupant restraint laws with high visibility by law enforcement, use of media and data gathering.

A coalition has been formed in Klamath that will include collaboration with local community and tribal government officials, the Yurok volunteer fire department, tribal clinic staff and other public health officials to plan effective strategies to increase seat belt and car seat use among the Yurok population. These effective strategies will be tailored to meet the specific needs of the Yurok Tribe.

The Buckle Up Yurok Program is beginning the second year of the four year funding cycle and this year includes a purpose of working with Yurok teens. Yurok teens will be recruited from the Klamath area and will serve as teen leaders to provide education to their peers on topics such as California’s Provisional License Law, Zero Tolerance, Leadership/Advocacy and other trainings to increase knowledge and skill level as they serve as Teen Leaders in the community.

Other activities include gathering data on seat belt use, developing a social media campaign, holding a teen specific poster contest and finding creative ways to engage and have fun while being involved in the program.

To learn more about this program or future car seat events, please contact Barbara Hart at (916) 929-9761.