Programs to enforce seat belt laws at night were conducted in Asheville and Greenville, North Carolina and Charleston, West Virginia. Asheville used night belt use checkpoints in a primary belt law State. Greenville used saturation patrols. Charleston used night belt use checkpoint style enforcement in a secondary belt law State. Paid and earned media publicized each of four enforcement waves conducted in each community during calendar year 2007. Both checkpoint communities showed statistically significant increases in night belt use. Drivers at Asheville belt use checkpoints were asked to provide a voluntary breath test. The percentage of “had been drinking” drivers decreased from 16 percent to 10 percent over the course of the program. It was concluded that night belt use publicity and enforcement efforts can be effective both for increasing belt use and decreasing drinking and driving. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting