United States Department of Transportation
i
Evaluation of Kansas and Missouri Rural Seat Belt Demonstrations.
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2016-04-01
[PDF-1.27 MB]
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Abstract:Research has shown seat belt use is lower in rural areas of the United States, which may be one reason fatalities are higher in these areas. NHTSA sponsored two State-level demonstration projects to increase seat belt use in rural areas of Kansas and Missouri. During the study, both Kansas and Missouri had secondary seat belt laws. Kansas used multiple media and enforcement waves, and Missouri employed a month-long media and enforcement campaign. Evaluations demonstrated increases in seat belt usage in many of the rural counties participating in the project, but some counties showed no change or even a decrease in seat belt use. Despite variations by county, Kansas showed an overall increase in seat belt use, going from 61 percent use in the baseline to 70 percent use after the second intervention. Missouri showed increases in belt use in some of the 10 counties; these increases, however, were offset by decreases or no change in the other counties that ultimately limited the observed overall increase in belt use to 2.8 percentage points when data from all counties were combined. Both States also showed increases in exposure to seat belt messages after the campaign activities. In Kansas for example, when asked, “Have you recently read, seen or heard anything about seat belt enforcement?” 78 percent answered “yes” during the baseline survey, and 85 percent answered “yes” for all subsequent surveys combined. Similarly in Missouri, when asked, “In the past month, have you seen or heard about police enforcement focused on seat belt use?” about 51 percent answered “yes” during the baseline while about 62 percent answered “yes” during the post-rural initiative measurement wave. Results from the evaluations support the conclusion that the supplemental efforts of the demonstration projects produced positive results in the target counties and also benefited the total occupant protection programs in the States.
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