Buckle Up, Stay Safe
An Evidence-Based Practice
Description
Buckle Up, Stay Safe is a campaign to encourage senior drivers to wear safety belts. The incidence of automobile crashes per miles driven and related mortality rates increases for the elderly (defined as individuals over the age of 65). Safety belt use significantly reduces the extent of injuries, hospitalizations, and deaths. Prompting safety belt use with road signs is cost effective and demonstrates increases in safety belt use. This campaign uses signs with the slogan "Buckle up, Stay safe" and an image of a black cross within a white heart on a red background. The signs are placed under stop signs at the exit of senior center parking lots to encourage compliance.
Goal / Mission
The goal of this program is to increase safety belt use among senior drivers.
Results / Accomplishments
In an evaluation of the Buckle Up, Stay Safe program using a repeated baseline design, the installation of signs increased the safety belt usage by drivers exiting senior communities from baseline (68%), to post-installation of signs (94%), to 6-months following installation (80%). The program was evaluated again at a 4-year follow-up comparing six senior communities with seat belt signs to six matched control senior communities with no signs. Safety belt use was stable over the four years, and remained similar to the six-month follow-up. Significantly more drivers used safety belts at the experimental sites than the control sites with 80% of men and 81% of women using safety belts at the experimental sites, while only 53% of men and 55% of women used belts at the control sites (p = 0.006). Significantly more passengers left the experimental sites buckled than the control sites (79% vs. 59%, p = 0.03).
About this Promising Practice
Organization(s)
Buckle Up, Stay Safe
Primary Contact
Daniel Cox
University of Virginia Health Systems
Box 800-223
Charlottesville, VA 22908
(434) 924-5314
djc4f@virginia.edu
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/home.html
University of Virginia Health Systems
Box 800-223
Charlottesville, VA 22908
(434) 924-5314
djc4f@virginia.edu
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/home.html
Topics
Community / Public Safety
Community / Transportation
Community / Transportation
Organization(s)
Buckle Up, Stay Safe
Source
Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis
Date of publication
2005
Date of implementation
1998
Location
Virginia
For more details
Target Audience
Adults, Older Adults