Effectiveness of media and enforcement campaigns in increasing seat belt usage rates in a state with a secondary seat belt law.
OBJECTIVE
In 2005, in terms of seat belt usage rates, Nevada ranked third nationally and first among states with secondary seat belt use enforcement laws in the United States. An effective combination of a media-based education and enforcement campaign helped in this regard. The objective of this article is to document the effectiveness of enforcement and media-based education and outreach campaigns on the seat belt usage rates in Nevada, a state with a secondary seat belt usage law.


METHODS
Observational data on seat belt usage and passenger fatality data are used to evaluate the effectiveness of enforcement campaigns and media-based education and outreach campaigns. Data based on observations of about 40,000 vehicles in each of the years 2003 to 2005 were analyzed.


RESULTS
Statistical analyses show that a significant increase in seat belt usage rates among both drivers and passengers for both genders resulted from the accompanying the media and enforcement campaigns.


CONCLUSIONS
The results from this study indicate that effective and well-planned media/enforcement campaigns can have a significant impact on seat belt usage rates even in a state where the enforcement of seat belt laws can only be as a secondary violation. They validate and expand on findings from other efforts documented in the literature. These results demonstrate that, if coordinated properly, media and enforcement campaigns work very effectively in increasing seat belt usage rates even in states with secondary seat belt laws.
Vasudevan
Vinod
V
Transportation Research Center, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada 89154-4007, USA. vinod.vasudevan@unlv.edu
Nambisan
Shashi S
SS
Singh
Ashok K
AK
Pearl
Traci
T
D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D035846:Law Enforcement / Q000145:classification / Q000379:methods*; D007878:Legislation as Topic; D008297:Male; D009505:Nevada; D011639:Public Opinion; D011845:Radio; D012449:Safety; D012622:Seat Belts / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013690:Television