Which is more likely to impact Behavior Change? According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, 37,313 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes last year. This is the lowest number of traffic deaths since 1961 (36,285 deaths). Between 1961 and 2008, we watched the death rate from motor vehicle crashes rise dramatically and then slowly begin to fall, but what is the motivator that moved the decline? Was it strategic messaging and incentives alone or was it the enforcement of primary and secondary safety belt laws paired with strategic social marketing that helped people make better choices about their safety? It has everything to do with the people and the places to help create healthy communities. I would love to learn more from those of you that have some practical examples of social marketers using “enforcement” as a part of your campaign approach. I guess, I’ll always ask the question “Why don’t people just do what they know is good for them without enforcement or incentive?” Well, that’s a whole different post! Don’t forget to buckle up! (NOTE: This picture was taken at a hotel in Chicago – seems a bit extreme, doesn’t it?)
Enforcement or Incentive?
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Enforcement – Could it help with Obesity prevention like it has helped with Smoking cessation? http://www.rwjf.org/childhoodobesity/digest.jsp?id=10405
I’m a college student, Safety Studies Major, in New Hampshire (the only state without a seatbelt law… sadly.) One of the major problems I ran into was that out-of-state students were crossing the border and un-buckling! Just because it wasn’t a law! Well, through presentations of seat belt commercials I found on youtube from the UK (who have MUCH more effective seat belt PSA’s than our ineffective “click-it-or-ticket”) and direct conversations with classes of college students, we found a 15% increase in safe behavior (wearing of seatbelts).
Law or no law – if you depict EXACTLY what happens when you perform unsafe behaviors, well, most people are smart enough to make the safer choice. Since the chances of a seatbelt law being passed here are slim, it’s time to push for better education, TV PSA’s, and radio campaigns.
I really liked the post of the Elm Grove Police signs, do you have any creative seat belt related signs like that?
Thanks for your input Victoria. It is true that other countries have taken much bigger risks in terms of campaign messaging related to injury prevention – especially for young drivers. Your comments about drivers actually removing seat belts when crosssing the stateline is amazing to me and really points out that unfortunately, someone did a good job communicating about the “lack of law.”
The Elm Grove signage is a creative way to play off of the fact that enforcement does impact behavior. It would be interesting to learn if this was part of a larger campaign initiative.