Background NHTSA's Occupant Protection Assessment Program is a tool that States can use for planning and evaluating their occupant protection programs. NHTSA's various regional offices serve as facilitators in this process by helping to assemble a team of technical experts with a high level of expertise in Occupant Protection program assessment, development, and implementation. The assessments assist State Highway Safety Offices in reviewing their occupant protection programs, noting program strengths and accomplishments; making suggestions for improvement; and, identifying areas where they can provide assistance. The assessments can be used as a tool for planning purposes and for maximizing the use of grants and funding available for occupant protection programs.

Objectives NHTSA desires an overall examination of the various assessments in order to: determine common strengths and weaknesses that States may share; compile a list of best practices; identify assessment impacts on State occupant protection programs; and, indicate areas of potential refinement in the assessment process.

Proposed Approach Perform a comparative analysis of completed Occupant Protection Program State assessments by reviewing the reports, synthesizing the findings and recommendations, and developing an overall summation. The evaluation can be completed within a year.