Evaluation of Kentucky's Click it or Ticket Campaign
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Summary
This report evaluates the effectiveness of Kentucky’s “Click It or Ticket” seat belt enforcement campaign conducted in May and June 2001. The study was motivated by the need to increase seat belt usage rates, which had plateaued at 60 percent despite statewide legislation enacted in 1994. The campaign, coordinated with eight southeastern states, combined earned and paid media publicity with a two-week period of intensified enforcement around Memorial Day. The primary objective was to determine whether this combination of publicity and enforcement could achieve a 10-percentage-point increase in seat belt usage and reduce traffic fatalities and injuries. The evaluation employed a multi-method approach to assess behavioral changes and campaign impact. Researchers conducted observational surveys of seat belt usage at 21 representative sites across the state during baseline, media, and enforcement phases. They also administered motorist surveys at county clerk offices in six counties and telephone surveys to a random sample of Kentucky drivers before and after the campaign. Additionally, the study documented publicity expenditures and enforcement activities, including citations and checkpoints, and compared crash data from the enforcement period against the previous five years. The results indicated that publicity alone had minimal impact on seat belt usage, which remained at 60–61 percent during the media phases. However, usage rose to 70 percent during the enforcement period, meeting the campaign’s goal. Enforcement efforts yielded 5,806 seat belt citations and 691 child restraint citations, with approximately two-thirds of seat belt citations resulting from saturated patrols rather than checkpoints. Surveys revealed that awareness of the campaign increased significantly, with 55.3 percent of motorists reporting they had heard of “Click It or Ticket” post-campaign, up from 5.1 percent at baseline. Television and radio were the primary sources of this awareness. Furthermore, telephone surveys showed a statistically significant increase in drivers who reported increasing their seat belt use due to the law and fear of tickets. Crash data showed that fatalities and injuries during the enforcement period were lower than in any of the preceding five years, with 7 fewer fatalities and 253 fewer injuries than the five-year average. The authors conclude that while the campaign successfully increased seat belt usage and reduced crashes during the enforcement period, publicity alone is insufficient to sustain long-term behavioral change. They argue that the perceived likelihood of receiving a ticket is the critical factor driving compliance. Consequently, the report recommends changing Kentucky’s seat belt law from secondary to primary enforcement to maintain high usage rates. The study also highlights the economic benefits of the campaign, estimating cost savings of approximately $15.7 million from the reduction in fatalities and injuries during the enforcement period.
Key finding
Kentucky's 2001 Click It or Ticket STEP raised observed driver seat belt use from 60% to 70% during the enforcement phase (not during media-only weeks), increased driver awareness of checkpoints and enforcement, and coincided with fewer fatalities and injuries than any of the previous five comparable two-week periods.
Methodology
mixed_methods
Sample size: 21 observation sites; 2,235 motorist surveys; 1,006 telephone interviews (506 pre, 500 post)
Provenance
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
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| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
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| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
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| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 19 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation
- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence