Buffalo High School Wins Seat Belt Challenge

Safe Communities of Wright County is pleased to announce that Buffalo High School has been selected as the winner for the 2008 Wright County High School Seat Belt Challenge. This school is chosen based on having the highest percent of buckled students at the end of a 4-week county-wide Challenge. Buffalo High school recorded 94.4% of their drivers and front seat passengers wearing a seat belt on the unannounced final seat belt check. The school worked hard for 4 weeks to promote seat belt use and safe driving through a variety of educational and motivational efforts. “We’re thrilled that our program motivated teens to buckle up,” says Pat Hackman, Safe Communities of Wright County. “Hopefully our efforts will help to further spread the message that seat belts save lives.” Crash data shows high school students are the group of drivers that are most likely to be involved in a crash, yet least likely to be wearing their seat belt.

To collect the data while participating in the Seat Belt Challenge, Buffalo students would stand in the parking lot and do observational surveys to see how many students and front-seat passengers were buckled. Annandale High School won “Most Improved” school by increasing the number of buckled students by 14.5% during the challenge. The average rate of seat belt use for all drivers in the state of Minnesota is 88%. Eight schools within Wright County participated in the 2008 Challenge. The Seat Belt Challenge is sponsored by Safe Communities of Wright County and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.