National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Grant: Understanding High-Risk Nighttime Seat Belt Offenders

ARTICLE I. TECHNICAL INFORMATION

a. Background

Seat belt use has increased steadily nationwide with added impetus from the ‘Click It or Ticket’ high-visibility enforcement initiative. In the most recent national observational survey, seat belt usage was reported to be 84 percent. However, there are still many motorists who continue to ride unrestrained. NHTSA research has shown that seat belt use is lower in the evening hours than in daytime hours. Moreover, 52 percent of the daytime occupant fatalities were unrestrained, while 70 percent of those killed at night were unrestrained. Data show a decline in seat belt use among fatally injured passenger vehicle occupants as it gets later in the evening reaching the lowest levels from midnight – 4:00 a.m.

For the past three years, the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC) conducted a nighttime seat belt high-visibility enforcement initiative in the State. The project was successful and resulted in a reduction in unrestrained occupant deaths and injuries at night. The work in Washington (a primary law state) substantiated the statement that many of the remaining unbuckled motorists fall into high-risk categories. WTSC data showed that the nighttime unbelted driver had consistently more traffic violations and criminal arrests than belted drivers at night and, belted and unbelted drivers during the day.

The purpose of this demonstration project is for the Grantee to: increase the motoring public’s knowledge of the nighttime enforcement effort underway; increase and publish the number of enforcement actions taken, increase nighttime seat belt use and create a reduction in the State death and injury toll through strict enforcement of the state’s belt law and identify the characteristics of the high risk drivers to build on the knowledge from the WTSC project and determine if the characteristics are consistent.

These efforts will occur at a variety of locations where law enforcement officers can observe a high volume of oncoming traffic that is moving slowly or stopped. The officers will screen the front seat passenger and driver.

b. Purpose

This project will seek to demonstrate if high visibility enforcement at night in a primary state with belt use at or above 90 percent, can impact the behavior of these high risk drivers and develop effective countermeasures to reduce unrestrained fatalities.

ARTICLE II. NHTSA INVOLVEMENT

For a period, as hereinafter set forth, NHTSA and the Grantee will cooperatively furnish the necessary personnel, equipment, and facilities and otherwise perform all things necessary for or incident to the performance of work as set forth below:

A. NHTSA shall:

(1) Provide a Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR) to participate in the planning and management of this Cooperative Agreement and to coordinate activities between the grantee and NHTSA.
2) Provide information and technical assistance from government sources and as determined appropriate by the COTR.
3) Provide an independent contractor to evaluate the nighttime enforcement mobilizations and analyze data on driving records and criminal records provided by the state.
4) Provide liaison with the Grantee and other government and private agencies as appropriate.
5) Stimulate the exchange of ideas and information among recipients of related projects through periodic meetings and
6) Maintain an on-going contact with the Grantee regarding conduct of this agreement.

B. The Grantee shall:

7) Perform the effort as specified in Section C, Specific Requirements and Tasks.
8) Designate a Project Manager to serve as liaison and coordinator between NHTSA and the Grantee and to manage the tasks performed under this agreement.
9) Provide appropriate program resources comparable to a major mobilization to support activities.
10) Advise NHTSA’s COTR of any problems in implementing or making progress on any tasks performed under this Cooperative Agreement, as well as strategy recommendations or revisions to the Project description to permit successful performance. All significant decision points, written materials or other work products will be submitted to the NHTSA COTR for approval.
11) Not deviate from the procedures or objectives specified in this Cooperative Agreement unless presented in writing and written approval is received by the NHTSA Contracting Officer before such deviations are implemented.

C. Specific Requirements and Tasks:

At a minimum, the following specific tasks shall be performed by the Grantee:

Task C.1 – Initial Organizational Meeting/Development of Action Plan

The Grantee shall organize a strategy session which will consist of a meeting with the State and NHTSA, including Regional, occupant protection, communications and research staff. The grantee may also include other representatives from law enforcement and media relations who may be working on the demonstration project. The purpose of this initial meeting is to resolve differences between the government’s approach and the Grantee’s approach to meeting the objectives of the demonstration project and to finalize the overall strategy and key elements of an action plan that includes a timeline of events, tasks, milestones and deliverables. This task should be completed within 1 month of award.

Task C.2 – Finalization and Submission of Action Plan

This project will test and evaluate practices for seat belt enforcement efforts during evening hours. The action plan shall detail all of the program elements, including strategy selections (enforcement, communications/media, etc.), methodology, implementation, timelines and evaluation. This plan will also outline the partnerships established for this initiative, including law enforcement officials, media organizations and community and public health organizations. The action plan will be submitted to NHTSA for review and approval. It is anticipated that this Task will be completed within two (2) months of the award.

The following elements shall be addressed in the plan:

A. Enforcement
The goal of this three year project is to conduct multiple statewide high visibility seat belt enforcement activities at night in an effective way (focusing on the remaining unbuckled motorists) and to focus efforts on this pool of high-risk drivers. Each year, the State should anticipate conducting a major nighttime emphasis during the May Mobilization and at least one other 5-7 day nighttime enforcement campaign in the Fall.

During each campaign, the enforcement and media activities should cover at least three quarters (3/4) of the state’s population.

The Grantee will develop effective working relationships with appropriate persons/sections in the selected corridors/sites, such as the State Patrol, local government, etc.

The Grantee shall propose an enforcement plan based on crash and fatality data in high risk crash locations and times between 9:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m.

Within six weeks of the end of the nighttime enforcement period, the state shall report the nighttime enforcement activities using NHTSA’s HVE On-Line Reporting Database system. This includes information on the number of agencies that participated in the mobilization, the number of enforcement hours, as well as the number and types of citations issued. A clear distinction between day and night citation reporting must be provided.

If appropriate, Grantee should highlight if any of their law enforcement agencies participate in the NHTSA Data Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) case studies. NHTSA may wish to collect process and enforcement data.

B. Communications/Media

The Grantee shall develop a communications plan that corresponds with the above enforcement efforts and activities should cover at least three quarters of the state’s population. A map of the enforcement areas superimposed over the media markets should be included. The objective of the communications plan is to increase public perception of the risk of receiving a citation by law enforcement for being unbelted and the increased likelihood of injury while not wearing a seat belt. It will include informing the public of related data, new technologies, policies, and other related information for upcoming enforcement activities, and the results of enforcement efforts.

This communications plan will seek to highly publicize and saturate the identified media market of the enforcement activities and its results. As part of the communications plan, the Grantee will identify the target audience and the best communications medium for delivering messages.

A major component of the communications campaign will be to define the groups of individuals who are non-users or part-time users (and other high-risk practices) and develop a clear and consistent approach and message that captures this audience. This campaign should include local television, radio and other means of information dissemination.

While NHTSA makes every effort to give States full creative abilities in their endeavors, as part of a Cooperative Agreement, the Grantee agrees that a dialogue between the Grantee and NHTSA during the planning stages is important. To this end, the State will provide its draft creative materials and media plan to NHTSA, to include both paid and earned media efforts, for NHTSA review and approval prior to implementing the project. NHTSA will provide technical assistance throughout the project.

Within two months following the nighttime seat belt enforcement mobilization, the State shall provide NTHSA a full report of the paid and earned media activities, including a post media buy analysis that details the gross rating points (GRPs) delivered, and a list of media events and earned media stories.

C. Evaluation

NHTSA’s Office of Behavioral Safety Research shall provide a contractor to evaluate the Grantee’s nighttime seat belt enforcement project. This evaluation shall comprise of many separate tasks and require the Grantee to collect specific data to (a) determine the effectiveness of nighttime seat belt enforcement mobilizations, and (b) identify the characteristics of the daytime and nighttime belted and unbelted drivers.

EVALUATION OF NIGHTTIME ENFORCEMENT
The effectiveness of the nighttime seat belt enforcement mobilizations shall be determined by collecting measures of public awareness of the project, nighttime seat belt use, and seat belt enforcement activity.
Public Awareness Surveys
Public awareness surveys will measure whether the driving public saw, or heard about nighttime seat belt enforcement before and after each enforcement mobilization. Typically, NHTSA has worked with States to administer public awareness surveys in the State Driver Licensing Offices, for a week before and after each publicity and enforcement wave. The evaluation contractor shall assist the Grantee in designing the survey instrument and furnishing the grantee with paper copies of the surveys, and analyzing the results of the surveys.

The Grantee shall be responsible for administering the surveys through their driver licensing offices and promptly returning the surveys to NHTSA’s evaluation contractor after each survey wave. In the event that the grantee is unable to use the driver licensing offices to administer surveys, they shall propose an alternative way to administer the surveys.

Nighttime Seat Belt Observations
To determine whether the enforcement and publicity affected nighttime seat belt use, NHTSA’s evaluation contractor shall design and administer a mini-survey of nighttime seat belt use by using a sub-sample of sites from the grantees official daytime seat belt use survey. NHTSA’s evaluation contractor shall collect a baseline measure of nighttime belt use prior to the first nighttime seat belt enforcement mobilization and then collect measures of nighttime seat belt use after each nighttime seat belt enforcement mobilization.

Separate report of nighttime enforcement is required if doing CIOT day and night.
The grantee is not responsible for any nighttime seat belt observations. However, the State shall share data from any daytime seat belt observations conducted during the course the project with the evaluator. The Grantee agrees to consult with NHTSA on the timing of their annual seat belt observations, so that the results of the daytime observations are coordinated with the nighttime seat belt observations which would permit a clearer understanding of the daytime and nighttime seat belt rates over the same period of time.

Enforcement Activity
To determine whether seat belt enforcement increases during the nighttime seat belt enforcement project, the Grantee will be responsible for providing seat belt citation data for each enforcement wave.

The enforcement data will consist of all the citations that law enforcement officers gave during the grant periods. The grantee will provide this data no later than six weeks after the end of the enforcement period and shall enter the data using NHTSA’s on-line reporting system. This includes information on the number of agencies that participated in the mobilization, the number of enforcement hours, as well as the number and types of citations issued, including DWI arrests, seat belt and child passenger citations, felonies, stolen vehicles, fugitives apprehended, suspended licenses, uninsured motorists, speeding, reckless driving and drugs.

In its application, the State shall provide a detailed description of the available data on seat belt citations, and citations issued during seat belt mobilizations of the proposed baseline measure. This proposed baseline measure can include: (a) data on nighttime seat belt citations for a period prior to the nighttime mobilizations, (b) data on daytime seat belt citations for a period prior to the nighttime mobilizations, and (c) data from citations issued during the last May CIOT mobilization, or other statewide seat belt mobilization. NHTSA’s evaluation contractor will work with the State to determine the best baseline measure of enforcement for the project, given the State’s available data on nighttime seat belt enforcement. However, the proposed baseline citation data must be linked to the driving and criminal records of the drivers who received seat belt citations. The details of this requirement are explained in the following section.

IDENTIFYING CHARACTERISTICS OF DAYTIME AND NIGHTTIME BELTED AND UNBELTED DRIVERS

To identify the profiles of unbelted nighttime drivers, NHTSA’s evaluation contractor will work closely with the Grantee to analyze the traffic and criminal records of drivers who received seat belt citations. The purpose of this activity is to determine how the characteristics of the day and nighttime belted and unbelted drivers differ.

A key factor to accomplish this will be the Grantee’s ability to obtain information on the driving and criminal records for each driver who received a seat belt citation. The Grantee is free to propose an alternative method that what is outlined in the following paragraphs.

NHTSA’s evaluation contractor shall assist the State to analyze the traffic and criminal records. However, given the sensitivity of the data, the Grantee shall provide the contractor with a database of the driving and criminal records with the personal identifying information removed. The Grantee and the evaluation contactor shall examine specific demographic data, such as age, sex and zip code, information about driving history, such as speeding violations, DUI and criminal activity for a baseline period before the demonstration program began and again annually to track progress.

The Grantee’s application shall include a detailed explanation of how they will obtain the driving and criminal records of drivers who received seat belt citations. Specifically, the Grantee should demonstrate that the Grantee understands the data requirements and has the ability to collect this data. The application should include a list of the database elements and describe the administrative, logistical and technological requirements to access this data. Specifically, the grantee must identify where the specific databases are housed, the limitations of the databases and the costs associated with accessing this data.

Task C.3 – Conduct Nighttime Enforcement Campaign

The campaign will be based on the key strategies and schedule detailed in the NHTSA approved action plan. The Grantee will conduct and monitor project activities.

This campaign will be conducted through strict nighttime enforcement of the seat belt law at a variety of locations where officers can observe a high volume of on-coming traffic that is moving slow or stopped, and in a manner determined by the Grantee in consultation with NHTSA. The officers will screen the front seat passenger and driver. This effort will be done utilizing furnished light and will not entail night-vision goggles.

It is anticipated that this task will be completed within 36 months of the award.

Task C.4 – Reporting

A. Quarterly Reports: These reports should include documentation of all demonstration efforts and include up-to-date information and data collected, obstacles and problems encountered and solutions, copies of materials and in-kind contributions to date. These reports form the basis of the Final Report to disseminate the lessons learned

and successes of the project. The COTR will approve each invoice upon receipt of each report and adequate documentation to substantiate payment. Quarterly reports are due to the COTR on the 15th of the month following the reporting period.
NHTS