BSU Students Educate Others at University About Seat Belt Safety

Four Boise State University students in Communication 495 - Advance Public Relations - chose the Idaho Seat Belt Coalition as their semester PR project. Student groups within the class were instructed to choose a local non-profit organization and create a mock PR plan, which was to include several tactics to execute the proposed plan.

Chris Laduke, Zach Armstrong, Jennifer Kroll, and Justin Greenway focused the campaign around the BSU campus and students. They targeted males ages 18-24, which have the largest fatality rate in unbelted crashes. In order to capture the attention of college age males, they created a MySpace page (www.myspace.com/buckleupforlife) and used graphic images to show what happens to unrestrained victims of car crashes. The page?s main point is a photo created by the group that shows a body outlined on pavement with the message, ?buckle up?. ?The [MySpace] site is about saving lives. Influencing others, by any means possible, to use their seat belts is a matter of life and death, so please take this seriously,? says one of the group members. The group does not just want people to visit the site and then leave; they also encourage visitors to post personal stories and testimonials about seat belts saving a life.

In addition to the webpage, the group hosted a booth at the Boise State Student Union Building and gave students information on seat belt safety. They also received a donation and purchased 500 rubber bracelets with the slogan "Buckle Up for Life" imprinted on them. The bracelets were distributed at the booth and to others on campus.

Other ideas from the plan included sending Opinion Editorial pieces to the editor of the Arbiter, BSU?s student newspaper, or to the Idaho Statesman.

The group also performed a survey on seat belt usage; however, the results were not available at the time of this article. Watch for the results on the ISBC website, buckleupidaho.org.