The innovative Yellow Dot program, which gives first responders vital health information about automobile crash victims, is already saving lives in several states and is soon expected to improve accident survival rates coast-to-coast for automobile drivers and passengers.
How Does the Yellow Dot Program Work?
When people sign up for the free Yellow Dot program, they are given a large Yellow Dot decal to place on the rear window of their vehicle, which alerts police officers, emergency medical technicians or other first responders to look for a Yellow Dot folder in the glove compartment. That folder contains detailed information about the occupants' medical conditions, prescriptions, drug allergies, surgeries and other vital information that could affect emergency treatment, as well as an identifying photograph to ensure rescue workers match the information to the right person.
The Yellow Dot program is simple, effective, and critically important.
What Makes the Yellow Dot Program So Valuable?
Rescue workers know that proper treatment during the "golden hour," the first 60 minutes after a serious automobile accident, often makes the difference between life and death for critically injured crash victims. If a driver or passenger is unconscious, disoriented or in so much pain after an accident that they can't communicate effectively at the crash scene or in the emergency room, their Yellow Dot folder can provide all the information that emergency medical teams need to provide life-saving treatment.
Yellow Dot Program is Growing Fast
Yellow Dot, a national emergency-response program that started in Connecticut in 2002, is spreading rapidly from state to state. By May 2011, numerous cities and counties in at least eight states, including Alabama, New York, Illinois and Virginia, had adopted the Yellow Dot program. But those numbers don't accurately reflect the level of interest in the program.
"We have been contacted by (people in) 33 states," said Lora Weaver, an Alabama traffic-safety official whose office has become a resource for governments looking for information that could help them launch the life-saving Yellow Dot program, in an interview with USA Today in July 2011. "It's just a double workload on me, but it's been very fulfilling and rewarding knowing maybe we will make a difference in other parts of the country."
The Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents all 50 states on issues related to traffic safety, also has received numerous requests for information about the Yellow Dot program, from individual drivers as well as state and local governments.
Seniors and Baby Boomers Love the Yellow Dot
The trend is fueled in part by the demographic tsunami created by aging baby boomers and the growing number of seniors in the United States. As people get older, they are more likely to have multiple medical conditions, take more prescription medications routinely, and be more vulnerable to critical injury in the event of an auto accident.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 40 million people in the United States, 13 percent of the population, are age 65 or older-and 32 million of those seniors (80 percent) are licensed to drive. By 2030, because of aging baby boomers, 20 percent of the U.S. population is expected to be 65 or older.
Yellow Dot Program Can Benefit Any Driver
Although the Yellow Dot program was initially envisioned as an emergency-alert system that would be of special value to seniors, the program has also attracted many younger drivers, especially those with drug allergies or serious medical conditions such as diabetes. There is no age restriction on the Yellow Dot program, and no limit on who may require efficient and informed emergency care following an automobile accident.
"To me, this is something anybody would want, not just older drivers," said W.E. Duff, 72, a retired clinical social worker, who told USA Today that he is working to start a Yellow Dot program in his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma. "I have a daughter with three children. What happens if she's in a car accident and she's the one that's unconscious?"
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