KENTUCKY
Buckle Up Kentucky Challenge

 

PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS PROGRAM AREA(S)
  Outstanding collaborative effort
Easy to replicate
  Occupant Protection
       
TYPE OF JURISDICTION    
  State    
       
TARGETED POPULATION(S) JURISDICTION SIZE
  General Population   3,908,124


PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
A 1997 traffic safety study, conducted by the State of Kentucky, revealed that only 54 percent of drivers and their passengers used seat belts when traveling in a motor vehicle.


GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of the Buckle Up Kentucky Challenge was to increase the use of seat belts statewide. Objectives of the Challenge included:

  • Develop a statewide occupant protection program
  • Design a program that would generate competition among the many law enforcement agencies in the state
  • Create a program of rewards both for motorists and law enforcement agencies


STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
In May 1998, the Kentucky Highway Safety Office and the Kentucky State Police created a contest designed to increase seat belt use. The contest, the Buckle Up Kentucky Challenge, rewarded the law enforcement officers and agencies who worked to increase seat belt use and rewarded the motorists who did their part by buckling up. The primary strategy used for the Challenge was to promote healthy competition among state law enforcement agencies toward the goal of increased seat belt use. The steps of the Challenge were simple:

  • Officers distributed "Thank You Tickets" to motorists wearing seat belts
  • The motorist receiving a Ticket was instructed to return the Ticket to the Highway Safety Office for a chance to win a prize
  • Participating officers and law enforcement agencies won prizes for issuing both "Thank You Tickets" and citations for seat belt use violations

Law enforcement officers and agencies competed against each other based on the size and type of the agency. Three winners were selected in each of the following categories:

  • Participation in the Buckle Up Kentucky Challenge: The officers and agencies who issued the highest number of "Thank You Tickets" to motorists won in this category
  • Enforcement Activities: The officers and agencies who issued the greatest number of citations for seat belt and child restraint violations between May 18 and September 7, 1998 won in this category
  • The Bottom Line: Observational surveys of belt use were conducted before Memorial Day and after Labor Day. The law enforcement agencies with the greatest increase in belt use rates were winners

The first place winner in each category received an in-car video camera. The second place winners each received radar units and the third place winners each received portable breath testers (PBT's). In addition, the officer who exhibited exemplary practices in all three of the categories won an all-expense-paid cruise to the Bahamas for four days and three nights.

The lucky motorist whose Ticket was drawn in October 1998, won a two-year lease on a 1998 Ford Ranger truck.


RESULTS
Nearly 120 law enforcement agencies throughout the state participated in the Buckle Up Kentucky Challenge—the first time so many agencies had united in a collaborative effort.

The full impact of the program will not be fully known until traffic safety data are compiled in the Summer of 1999. However, individual observational surveys conducted during the Challenge indicated notable increases in seat belt use.

 

FUNDING
  Private: $38,500
CONTACT  
  Sgt. Tony L. Young
Kentucky State Police
Commander, Highway Safety Branch
919 Versailles Rd.
Frankfort, KY 40601
(502) 695–6356



NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION

WINTER 1999