A Campus Campaign to Increase Seatbelt Use

The purpose of this project was to determine if an educational campaign could increase the number of university students who used seatbelts and who intended to use seatbelts while driving or being passengers in motor vehicles. According to the CDC, motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death for people aged 5-34 years in the U.S., and wearing a seat belt will decrease chances of injury in a car crash by 45% and serious injury by 50%. The CDC also indicates that individuals aged 18-24 years old have the lowest self-reported rate of seat belt usage. In states like Massachusetts, where the seat belt law is secondary, only 67% of those aged 18-24 report using seatbelts. Solid evidence exists that educational campaigns can increase seat belt use. The Seat Belt Education campaign, a collaborative effort of the Ad Council and the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Click it or Ticket campaign both contributed significantly to the increase in seatbelt usage. At a mid-sized public institution, 500 students completed surveys that addressed their self-reported seatbelt use while driving, as well as their attitudes and beliefs regarding the behavior. Nearly half 48.6% of the survey respondents indicated that they always wore seatbelts, while 13% indicated that they never or rarely used seatbelts. More than half of the students believed it to be very important to wear seatbelts while only two students indicated that seatbelt use was very unimportant. In addition to the surveys, student drivers were observed entering four campus parking lots over 40 observation periods; more than 63% wore seatbelts, nearly 32% did not, and approximately 5% could not be determined. A month long campaign that included posters, flyers, Face Book messages, newspaper articles, and other activities was conducted. Post intervention survey data indicated a significant increase in the number of individuals intending to wear seatbelts; the strongest predictor of intention was a positive attitude toward seatbelt use. Post intervention parking lot observations found a significant increase in the number of drivers and passengers wearing seatbelts. Objectives: Participants will be able to *Identify the risks associated with non-use of seatbelts *Describe strategies designed to increase awareness about driving without seatbelts *Discuss the logistics of using a research study as a classroom instructional strategy