High Five Rural Traffic Safety Project Begins in Grayson County

Friday, October 21, 2022

Thursday marked the launch of the High Five Rural Traffic Safety Project (High Five) in Grayson County, a 12-month public safety initiative aimed at increasing seat belt use and decreasing serious crashes in five rural Kentucky counties.

Conducted in partnership between the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Kentucky Office of Highway Safety, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) and Kentucky State Police, High Five has a local focus and functions through the Sheriff's office in each county.

Based on KYTC crash data, Grayson County was selected along with Bourbon County, Knott County, Madison County, and Perry County to participate.

"Being born and raised in Grayson County, one of the worst parts of my job is responding to injury crashes because it's usually someone I know," Grayson County Sheriff Norman Chaffins said. "The sad part is that many of the injuries and deaths could have been prevented by simply wearing a seat belt!"

In 2021, 65% of fatalities in Kentucky occurred on rural roads and 81% of Kentucky roads are rural. In 2022 there have been 450 collisions in Grayson County. Resulting in 124 injuries and nine fatalities. Of those collisions, 19 injuries and four fatalities listed seatbelts were not in use.

High Five focuses on education, enforcement and engineering. Through traffic safety checkpoints, social media, school programs and other community outreach activities, law enforcement will promote the crucial role of seat belts in saving lives. Additionally, local and state engineers and traffic safety professionals will work together to identify road hazards and make upgrades wherever possible.

According to NHTSA, when worn correctly, seat belts reduce the risk of death by 45 percent for front-seat vehicle occupants and by 60 percent for pickup truck, SUV and minivan occupants. Properly fastened seat belts contact the strongest parts of the body, such as the chest, hips and shoulders. A seat belt spreads the force of a crash over a wide area of the body, putting less stress on any one part, and allows the body to slow down with the crash, extending the time when the crash forces are felt by the occupant.

The Kentucky High Five initiative is based on the Iowa High Five initiative conducted from April 2014 to April 2015.