Program Profile: Click-It-or-Ticket Campaign (Mass.)

This is a seat-belt-enforcement campaign initiated and funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The overall goal is to improve road safety by requiring drivers and passengers in vehicles to properly wear their seat belts. The program is rated Promising. There was a statistically significant decrease in motor vehicle accidents, but no impact on non-fatal injuries caused by vehicle accidents.

A Promising rating implies that implementing the program may result in the intended outcome(s).

Program Goals

The Click-It-or-Ticket (CIOT) program is a federal seat-belt-enforcement campaign initiated and funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The overall goal of CIOT is to improve road safety by requiring drivers and passengers in vehicles to properly wear their seat belts.

Massachusetts first implemented the CIOT program in the fall of 2002. By 2012, 49 states (including Massachusetts), the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands participated in CIOT mobilizations (Hinch, Solomon, and Tison 2014).

Program Components

The CIOT program occurs throughout the federal year through six mobilization periods of high-visibility traffic enforcement, and media advertisements that help to build public awareness about seat belt use.

The mobilization periods are usually 1 to 2 weeks, and tend to take place around major holidays (such as Memorial Day weekend). During this time, designated police officers specifically and aggressively focus on traffic law enforcement. The mobilization periods are preceded by advertisements in the media that alert the public of the upcoming seat-belt-enforcement mobilization.

In Massachusetts, local police agencies are given grants (based on their population size) to implement the CIOT campaign. Police officers apply for overtime to work during the campaign mobilizations. During the mobilizations, police officers focus on traffic law enforcement and do not respond to any other calls. Furthermore, police officers are expected to give out a certain number of tickets per shift (although they are not penalized if they do not attain that number). In addition to the increased traffic law enforcement, the state of Massachusetts also engages in a statewide media campaign, via radio and television advertisements, to publicize the CIOT program.

Target Population

Officers specifically target drivers, of all ages, who are not using seat belts. However, there is a particular focus on 18- to 34-year-old male drivers, as they represent a high number of unrestrained fatalities in motor vehicle accidents (Hinch, Solomon, and Tison 2014).

Program Theory

One theory that informs the CIOT program is deterrence. Deterrence theory suggests that an individual makes a decision on whether to commit a crime by weighing the expected costs with the expected benefits. For the CIOT program, the increase in traffic law enforcement during the mobilization periods can mean a higher probability of drivers getting caught—and thus lead to the recognition that there is a higher expected cost for committing a traffic violation, such as not wearing a seat belt. It is believed that the CIOT program functions as a deterrent effect for drivers who receive a ticket and drivers who observe others receiving a ticket (Luca 2014).

Study 1

Luca (2014) examined the impact of the Click-It-or-Ticket (CIOT) program in Massachusetts on traffic accidents and non-fatal injuries in 2002. The analysis looked at data from all the traffic tickets issued in all 350 municipalities in the state from April 1, 2001, to January 31, 2003. The data included detailed information on the offense type, ticket amount, location and time, demographic characteristics of the driver, and model and make of the car. Motor vehicle data came from the Massachusetts Highway Safety Division and included all accidents that were reported to the Registry of Motor Vehicles for the same time period. Information was available on the date, time, location, number of vehicles involved, and severity.

For each municipality in Massachusetts, the data on the traffic tickets was linked to the data on the accidents, to create a panel data set that showed the number of tickets issued and the number of accidents that occurred for each day in the sample period. Information on the daily weather and gas prices was also collected, because that information could potentially affect both traffic volume and accidents. Other data on the municipalities (such as the population, unemployment rate, and number of registered motor vehicles per capita) was also included, to capture characteristics that are correlated with both traffic volume and accidents.

The treatment periods (when the CIOT program was first implemented in the state) were November 18, 2002, until December 1, 2002 (to coincide with Thanksgiving); and December 16, 2002, to December 22, 2002 (to coincide with Christmas). The comparison periods were specified to begin and end on the same day of the week (to prevent any bias from having an unequal number of weekdays and weekends) in 2001, before the CIOT program was implemented. The comparison periods were used to control for the impact that high traffic volumes (which typically surround holidays) could have on the number of tickets issued and accidents reported. The control periods were all other days in the sample period.

Ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis was conducted to examine the impact of issuing tickets during the CIOT campaign on accidents and nonfatal injuries. In addition, a number of other analyses were conducted to control for other factors that could also impact the number of accidents and nonfatal injuries that occurred in Massachusetts during the study period.

Information on implementing the Click-It-or-Ticket program can be found at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Web site: http://www.nhtsa.gov/PEAK

Subgroup Analysis

Luca (2014) also examined the impact of the Click-It-or-Ticket (CIOT) program on certain subgroups. For instance, the author examined the differential effects of the CIOT program by population density, and found that municipalities in Massachusetts with above-average population densities issued more tickets during the CIOT mobilizations then municipalities with below-average population densities. As a result, municipalities with higher population densities experienced a statistically significantly larger decline in accidents and injuries during the CIOT program.

In addition, the author examined the differential effects of the CIOT program by age groups, and found there was no statistically significant difference in the number of accidents between 15 to 24 year olds and 25 to 64 year olds, even though drivers under 25 years old tend to be at most risk on the road (Luca 2014).

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

These sources were used in the development of the program profile: