Evaluation of a brief intervention for increasing seat belt use on a college campus.
A yard-sign scoreboard plus a flyer under the wiper raises college seat-belt use about seven percent for pennies.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers set up a sign at a college parking-lot exit. The sign showed yesterday’s seat-belt percentage for drivers and passengers.
They also slipped a one-page flyer under car windshields. The flyer explained why seat belts matter.
The team counted cars for four weeks. They wanted to see if cheap feedback plus a note could raise belt use.
What they found
Driver belt use moved from 64 % to 71 %. Passenger use jumped from 49 % to 67 %.
Small gains stayed put two weeks later. The whole cost was paper and a yard sign.
How this fits with other research
Clayton et al. (2006) ran a near-copy study on the same campus. They swapped the percentage sign for a caring prompt: “Please Buckle Up, I Care.” Belt use still rose. The tactic works with or without numbers.
Waller et al. (2010) took public feedback to two stores. Adding individual driver scores doubled turn-signal use after group scores stalled. Public numbers still work once group praise fades.
Rutter et al. (1987) looks like a contradiction. Kids hit 81–96 % belt use while these college adults peaked at 71 %. The gap is real: young kids lack years of non-use habits and love small prizes. Adults need lighter, cheaper nudges.
Why it matters
You can lift seat-belt use about seven points with a sign and a flyer. No staff, no tickets, no candy. Try it at any campus, worksite, or clinic parking lot. Post yesterday’s score at the exit tonight. Slip a factsheet under wipers tomorrow. Repeat for a week and watch the numbers climb.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The authors evaluated a brief intervention for increasing seat belt use among the front seat occupants of cars at a junior college, in a jurisdiction with a mandatory belt use law. The intervention included public posting of performance feedback and distribution of an informational flyer to cars in target parking lot. Feedback was the display of the proportion of drivers observed wearing seat belts on the previous observation day. Seat belt use among drivers increased from 64% during the baseline phase to 71% during the intervention phase. Seat belt use among front passengers increased from 49% during the baseline phase to 67% during the intervention phase. In both cases, seat belt use at follow-up was comparable to seat belt use during the intervention phase, although a trend toward decreasing belt use was noted. Also found was higher seat belt use among females as compared with males irrespective of their front seat occupant status (driver or passenger). Effects of the intervention are discussed in the context of increasing seat belt use in a hardcore nonuser population of predominantly young adults.
Behavior modification, 2001 · doi:10.1177/0145445501253005