The effectiveness of the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) in increasing the rate of seat belt use is a well known fact since the first Canadian experiment conducted in Ottawa by Transport Canada and local police departments. A STEP on seat belt usage applied in eight different areas in Québec during 1986 led to an 18.1% increase in the use of that safety device. Those results and the experiment acquired produced an improved STEP version implemented on a province-wide basis Québec during the fall of 1987. Accordingly, the Québec seat belt use rate jumped from 67.7% in 1986 to 85.8% in 1987, 1989), the highest rate ever achieved in North America. The paper reviews the three main components of this project: public education, enforcement and the use of incentives on a large scale. Measures that could be introduced to achieve a 90% or better seat belt use rate are also briefly discussed. (A)
Samenvatting