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PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Michigan has had a mandatory
safety belt law since 1985; however, until recently, this law was only
enforceable as a secondary law. This limitation created difficulties
in gathering safety belt enforcement statistics to report for mobilization
efforts in which the state participated. In addition, although Michigan
State Police citation data are maintained and available, centralized
reporting of safety belt enforcement activities is not required of local
and county police agencies.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
In an effort to increase
safety belt and child safety seat use throughout the state, the Office
of Highway Safety Planning of the Michigan State Police implemented
Operation ABC Law Enforcement Challenge in 1999. The program was developed
with the following objectives:
- To increase enforcement
of state safety belt and child safety seat laws
- To promote public education
of state occupant protection laws
- To obtain and coordinate
safety belt and child restraint citation data
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
Operation
ABC Law Enforcement Challenge is an occupant protection program which
targets all statewide law enforcement agencies that report safety belt
and child restraint citation data. The Challenge was developed as the
primary strategy for increasing compliance with Michigan's occupant
protection laws. The design of the program was intentionally made simple
to encourage maximum participation.
All local
law enforcement agencies in the state were invited to participate in
the Challenge, which promoted participation by offering two chances
to win law enforcement equipment. Activities comprising the Challenge
included the following:
- Participating
law enforcement agencies were required to keep track of a few statistics,
such as the number of hazardous action citations and warnings issued,
and the number of safety belt and child safety seat violations and
warnings issued. The participating agency then completed and submitted
a form enumerating the collected data. The forms were submitted to
the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning for compilation of
data and finally used in a series of drawings for dual-antenna radar
units
- Participating
agencies were also invited to conduct any type of public information
activity (for example, public service announcements, checkpoints,
school assemblies), that would promote occupant protection to the
driving public within the agency's enforcement area. If a participating
agency provided detailed information about their public information
activity as part of their data collection efforts, the agency became
eligible to enter a second series of drawings for laser units
The Operation
ABC Law Enforcement Challenge was conducted in three waves during national
observances:
- Thanksgiving
Holiday, November 22–28, 1999
- Child Passenger
Safety Week, February 13–19, 2000
- Memorial
Day Holiday, May 22–29, 2000
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