HIGHWAY SAFETY IN BLACK/AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITIES:
ISSUES AND STRATEGIES

Introduction

Overview

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the African-American population is projected to grow 13 percent from 2000 to 2010, compared to 9 percent for the total U.S. population.¹ While this projected growth may have a positive impact on the nation's diversity, it also foreshadows a significant increase in the number of deaths and injuries from traffic-related incidents, including motor vehicle crashes, among a population that is already statistically over-represented in this area.

Attempts to reach Black communities with messages designed to change behavior and attitudes about traffic and driving safety consistently have been hampered by a lack of access to culturally-relevant strategies and information that would be helpful in developing and communicating programs that hit home. For example, traffic safety professionals who seek to deliver relevant, credible messages and information through the most effective channel need to understand how concerns and priorities among the Black community may differ from those of the mainstream population. To make the effort to develop effective intervention programs even more challenging, communicators also must be prepared to apply different approaches to reach different audiences or subgroups within the African-American community itself, based on age, location, ethnic origin, economic and other factors.

In response to this challenge, NHTSA retained Cordy & Company Public Relations, along with subcontractors AFYA, Inc., and Kevin Raines, to identify traffic safety needs in the Black community, to determine effective means of promoting traffic safety to Black populations, and to produce specific guidelines for conducting interventions targeted to Black populations. This report provides that information in the form of research findings and recommendations that can be implemented as part of current or future programs.

Project Goals and General Approach
This study was designed to identify the traffic safety knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of residents in predominantly Black communities and to determine how best to promote highway safety to these communities. The study had four primary research objectives:

• to identify and interpret traffic safety issues of concern to the Black population, particularly where those concerns are unique to the Black community;
  
  
• to identify social norms and perceptions of traffic safety issues that might impact the effectiveness of programs and messages in the Black community;
  
  
• to identify specific types of messages and themes that resonate in or are rejected by the Black community; and
  
  
• to identify promising and ineffective means of delivering messages to the Black community.
  
  

Information was gathered from two sources: (1) 45 one-on-one discussions with local community leaders, activists, service providers, and other key people who serve the community; and (2) 48 focus groups with Black members of the public. The lessons learned from this research were compiled in this report to meet the study's main objective: to provide a resource that can be used to guide the development of subsequent Federal, State, and local programs that are targeted to, or sensitive toward, the Black population.

With more than 30 million African Americans in the U.S., representing numerous opinions, perceptions, and experiences, no single message, program, or media vehicle will resonate with this community. Like any other demographic group, however, these diverse opinions can be reduced to manageable market segments. This study gathered opinions based on two levels of market segmentation:

• Geodemographic segmentation. To some extent, individual perceptions are based on one's living environment. Messages, media, and programmatic needs may differ between urban and rural communities, blue-collar and white-collar communities, low-income and high-income communities, and a number of other identifiers. This research has concentrated on six communities that typify the range of African American communities throughout the U.S.
  
  

¹U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Population Projections Brach, 200 Census data.