PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
The states which comprise
the area served by Region 4 of the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) include Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Although
the NHTSA Region 4 Office has made strides to help attain the
national goal of 85 percent seat belt use by the year 2000, this
goal has not yet been reached. The challenge for the NHTSA Region
4 Office has been to develop and support seat belt use programs
that can be easily replicated in all states encompassed by the
region.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of the program,
Safety Belts and PizzaGet Em Together, was to reduce
injuries and fatalities in the Region 4 states through proper
use of safety belts and child safety seats. Objectives of this
endeavor were to:
- Build on existing,
successful efforts to develop a region-wide seat belt use program
- Design a program to
support the strategy of the Presidential Initiative to Increase
Seat Belt Use Nationwide
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
In 1997, the Georgia
State Patrol and the Georgia Office of Highway Safety, in partnership
with the NHTSA Region 4 Office, launched a statewide seat belt
enforcement campaign, Operation Strap N Snap. One
of the early successful elements of the campaign was the involvement
of Pizza Hut, Inc.©, which furnished 70,000 buy-one-get-one-free
pizza coupons for police officers to give to drivers of cars
in which everyone was buckled-up. The theme of this effort was
"Seat Belts Give You The Edge"a clever interpretation
of Pizza Hut's new Edge Pizza®. This unique initiative helped
Georgia achieve its highest seat belt use rate ever recorded74
percent for drivers (a 6 percent increase from the previous use
rate of 68 percent). Furthermore, law enforcement officers reported
enjoying the positive interaction with the driving public, while
offering motorists a reward for doing the right thing. Encouraged
by the success of the "Seat Belts Give You The Edge"
effort, Pizza Hut again joined the Buckle Up America! campaign,
and, in partnership with NHTSA, expanded their original enterprise
to the Southeastern States.
Between September and
December 1998, law enforcement officers in the NHTSA Region 4
States will issue more than 600,000 "thank you tickets"
of Pizza Hut coupons to motorists who buckle their safety belts.
Most of the tickets will be issued during the November 23-29
national Operation ABC Mobilization: America Buckles Up Children
Campaign (part of the Buckle Up America! Campaign),
at safety seat clinics, during planned holiday travel road safety
checks and at State Welcome Centers. The coupon distribution
will help the Campaign by enhancing media events and promoting
public awareness of seat belt use. The theme of this new, expanded
Pizza Hut partnership program is Safety Belts And PizzaGet
Em Together. |