Enforcement in 8 Southeast States Delivers Increase in Seat Belt Use

          Belt Use Jumps Nine Percentage Points in Just Three Weeks;
              National Safety Council Says Click It or Ticket Is
          'The Only Model Proven to Significantly Increase Belt Use'

    WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 The Click It or Ticket Campaign
conducted across eight southeastern states in May delivered a record increase
in seat belt use and will result in hundreds of lives saved.  Belt use jumped
nine percentage points, meaning more than 4.4 million additional people are
buckling up.  Over the course of a year this increase could save 659 lives and
$1 billion in health care costs.
    "The results of this eight state regional program over just three weeks
prove conclusively that high visibility enforcement is the most effective tool
we have to increase seat belt use and save lives," said Alan McMillan,
president of the National Safety Council.  "We are encouraging every state to
use the federal funds it receives for seat belt programs to implement the
Click It or Ticket model."
    The Click It or Ticket high visibility enforcement program combines
intense enforcement with paid advertising to notify the public about the
enforcement.  The goal is to encourage people to buckle up to avoid a ticket.
The model is based on years of research showing that for many people who don't
wear seat belts -- especially young people -- the possibility of receiving a
ticket is a more powerful incentive than the threat of injury or death.
    The nine percentage point increase in belt use over three weeks with Click
It or Ticket contrasts with the national experience where belt use has
increased nine percentage points over three years.  The National Safety
Council attributes the slower rate of increase nationally to the failure of
states to employ methods proven to increase belt use.
    "The United States trails virtually every other industrialized nation in
seat belt use, despite hundreds of million dollars of taxpayer money that has
been spent on failed public education programs to increase belt use," said
Chuck Hurley, Vice President of the Transportation Safety Group of the
National Safety Council.  "It's time to get smart and spend these precious
resources only on those programs proven to increase belt use, and that means
quality enforcement of strong laws using the Click It or Ticket model."
    After being tested by a handful of individual states, Click It or Ticket
was conducted for the first time ever in multiple states in the weeks leading
up to Memorial Day, 2001.  All eight states comprising Region IV of the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) coordinated efforts
with the Department of Transportation and the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety
Campaign -- a program of the National Safety Council.  More than $3.7 million
of public and private funds were directed to advertising, publicity, and
research to measure the impact.
    Observational measurements of belt use were conducted before, during and
after the high visibility enforcement blitzes in each state -- Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Tennessee.  Three of the states have standard enforcement of seat belt laws
and two have secondary enforcement which permits issuance of the seat belt
violation only after a motorist has been stopped for another violation.
    "Whether there was a standard or secondary law, enforcement in each state
was outstanding," said Troy Ayers, Administrator of NHTSA Region IV.  "One
hundred percent of the 3,250 law enforcement agencies in the region
participated, and we are grateful for their professionalism and effectiveness.
Their efforts will pay off in lives saved."
    While belt use went up in every state, the increases in belt use varied.
Generally, the states with the lowest belt use at the outset achieved the
greatest gains.  Here are the results:

     State                     Prior to Campaign   At the Height  Percentage
                                      Start        of Enforcement     Point
                                                                    Increase
    Alabama                             69%             77%           +8%
    Florida                             61%             70%           +9%
    Georgia                             72%             82%          +10%
    Kentucky                            60%             70%          +10%
    Mississippi                         49%             62%          +13%
    North Carolina                      80%             84%           +4%
    South Carolina                      65%             70%           +5%
    Tennessee                           53%             73%          +20%

    Ayers also credited African American leadership in each state for ensuring
a quality, professional enforcement program that avoided any reported racial
bias.  Ayers noted that the American Civil Liberties Union monitored the
enforcement effort very closely in several states and did not report any
problems.
    "The results of Click It or Ticket show that enforcement can be conducted
properly to save lives without a negative impact on minorities," said Colonel
L. M. Claiborne from the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
    Click It or Ticket is part of an ongoing national initiative to increase
the belt use, and is a partnership between the law enforcement community,
state highway safety offices, the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign and the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.