Tribal Road Safety

The facts

• Motor vehicle traffic crashes are a leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaska Native people.A1
• Motor vehicle traffic crash death rates among American Indian and Alaska Native children and youth ages 0–19 years were up to 8 times as high as those of other racial and ethnic groups.1
• Rates of motor vehicle traffic deaths among American Indian and Alaska Native adults ages 20 years or older were up to nearly 7 times as high as those of other racial and ethnic groups.1

Risk factors

People at increased risk include children and men.1

Behaviors that increase risk include low seat belt use,23 low car seat and booster seat use,4 and impaired driving.5

Keep Reading: Risk and Protective Factors for Tribal Road Safety

Prevention

Proven ways to prevent crash-related injuries and deaths include:

• several roadway engineering measures to slow speeds and create safer transportation infrastructure for all road users. Information on these proven interventions is available from the Federal Highway Administration.
• increasing car seat and booster seat use through child passenger restraint laws that require car seat and booster seat use for all children until at least age 9 years,6789101112
• increasing seat belt use through primary enforcement seat belt laws that cover all seating positions,1314 and
• high visibility enforcement.1315

These strategies can be successfully tailored to tribal communities.

Keep Reading: Reducing Risk for Tribal Communities

Best Practices Guide

The Tribal Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention (TMVIP) Best Practices Guide provides recommended strategies and examples from Indian Country to increase seat belt use, increase child safety seat use, and reduce alcohol-impaired driving. The Guide also outlines five important components for TMVIP.

Tribal road safety fact sheets

Check out CDC's Tribal Road Safety Fact Sheets and share the materials to help reduce crash-related injuries and deaths among members of Tribal Nations.

Program Evaluation Guide

The Tribal Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention Program Evaluation Guide was developed to share best practices for evaluating Tribal Motor Vehicle Injury Prevention (also called Tribal Traffic Safety) Programs. This guide aims to assist Tribes and Tribal Organizations that are implementing these proven strategies with key methods for evaluating their programs. Specific examples are provided throughout the guide that pertain directly to Tribal Traffic Safety Programs.