Citation

Hunter WW, Campbell BJ, Stewart JR. J. Saf. Res. 1986; 17(1): 23-31.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1986, U.S. National Safety Council, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This research explores the effectiveness of a seat-belt incentive program in an entire community. The project was conducted during 1983 in Chapel Hill/Carrboro, North Carolina, a community with a population of 50,000. The campaign, entitled "Seat Belts Pay Off," comprised several steps: (a) planning and developing support, (b) developing data collection and other evaluative procedures, (c) implementing a public education/involvement campaign, and (d) giving modest economic incentives to belted occupants of vehicles passing checkpoints over a 6-month period. Belt use matching the highest level recorded in a U.S. community was achieved. Incentives, generally ranging in value from $3 to $5, were donated by many community businesses. The prizes, which included meals, containers of soft drinks, $5 cash coupons, T-shirts, and gift certificates, were given out for 6 months (April 19 to October 17, 1983). Additionally, six monthly $500 drawings were held, along with a $1,000 grand prize drawing. Eligible participants were those who had been stopped and rewarded for wearing their seat belt(s) and who then mailed in a preaddressed, postage-paid entry card. The drawings were conducted to stimulate public interest at selected intervals in the campaign. The effectiveness of the effort was measured by monitoring driver shoulder-belt use in passenger cars equipped with shoulder belts before, during, and after the education and incentive phases. A systematic, stratified sample was used to obtain weekly belt use data from 7 of 17 permanent data collection stations located around the community. Results indicate that driver overall belt use increased from 24 % in the baseline phase to a peak value of 41 % in the last week of the incentive phase. During the initial 6 months of the follow-up phase, weekly belt use held consistently around 36%. Over the next year, use rates increased slightly, although a small scale 2-month follow-up intervention introduced in the fall of 1984 had little, if any, impact.