Evaluation of the Click It or Ticket intervention in Utah

Objective: To evaluate the Click It or Ticket (CIOT) intervention conducted in Utah by comparing changes in safety belt use using observational safety belt surveys pre- and post-intervention.

Methods: Observational surveys of safety belt use for drivers and front seat passengers (collectively referred to as front seat occupants) were conducted before and after the media and enforcement blitz of the CIOT intervention. Data were collected from 16 urban sites during the daytime and nighttime. Logistic regression and generalized estimating equations were used to compute odds ratios for safety belt use adjusted for front seat occupant characteristics.

Results: Overall safety belt use was observed at 76.5% pre-intervention and 84.8% post-intervention, an improvement of 8.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.2%, 11.3%). Daytime and nighttime safety belt use improved by 7.8% (95% CI: 3.5%, 12.1%) and 9.7% (95% CI: 6.4%, 13.0%), respectively. While males showed a greater improvement (9.9%) in safety belt use when compared to females (5.7%); males were still less likely to use safety belts than females.

Conclusions: The CIOT intervention is associated with increased safety belt use at the sites observed in Utah, including among the two high risk groups targeted by the intervention: nighttime occupants and males.