Buckle Up Phone Down in Jackson, Mississippi and Sioux Falls, South Dakota [Traffic Tech]

Tucker, Annette; Ostergaard, Melissa; Selden, R.Z., Jr. · 2026 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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Summary

This report evaluates the "Buckle Up Phone Down" (BUPD) traffic safety program, originally developed by the Missouri Department of Transportation to address rising motor vehicle fatalities linked to unrestrained occupants and distracted driving. Due to growing interest and a lack of formal evaluation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducted a demonstration and evaluation of adapted BUPD programs in Jackson, Mississippi, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, from October 2022 to March 2023. The study aimed to assess the program’s effectiveness in influencing driver behavior across two geographically and demographically distinct locations. The demonstration sites were selected based on population, media presence, legal frameworks, and local support. Jackson, Mississippi, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, served as implementation sites, while Beaumont, Texas, and Fargo, North Dakota, served as matched control cities. Local site champions, including Mississippi Safety Services and the South Dakota Emergency Medical Services for Children, led implementation teams that developed program infrastructure, created promotional materials, and hosted community events. Over six months, 83 events were held across both sites, reaching over 50,000 people through presentations, pledge events, and promotional item distributions. The evaluation comprised a process assessment via interviews with implementation teams and an outcome assessment using a matched-site observational survey design. The outcome evaluation involved observing 5,000 drivers in each of the four cities during pre- and post-campaign periods, totaling 40,000 observations. Statistical analysis using a before-after evaluation with comparison groups revealed that the BUPD program did not have a significant effect on overall seat belt use or cellphone use in either implementation city compared to the controls ($p > .05$). When analyzing demographic segments, the only statistically significant finding was among young adults, where observed seat belt use decreased by 33 percent during the post-program period. No other significant effects were found for age, sex, race/ethnicity, or vehicle type. Process evaluation results highlighted that time, leadership, networking, and community familiarity were critical for success, with teams noting that the six-month duration may have been insufficient for long-term behavior change. The findings indicate that the BUPD implementation in Jackson and Sioux Falls failed to significantly alter driver behaviors. The authors attribute this lack of impact to limited stakeholder engagement, difficulties securing media coverage, resource constraints, and potential issues with the program’s theory of change. Because BUPD relies on social influence and norms rather than enforcement or direct education, the report concludes that maximizing reach and visibility through high-profile champions and prominent local institutions is paramount. While this specific demonstration did not yield positive results, the authors note that other implementations with greater fidelity and resources might successfully influence driver behavior.

Key finding

The Buckle Up Phone Down program did not significantly improve seat belt use or reduce cellphone use overall, but was associated with a significant decrease in seat belt use among young adults compared to control cities.

Methodology

field_study

Sample size: 40000

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (5 acquisition events logged).

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• seat belt use
• public messaging

Information type

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• Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation, policy recommendations
• Empirical Findings: observational prevalence