Lesson Learned: High School Seatbelt Safety Challenge Delivering Results

Provided by TMA Bucks:

For the last several years, TMA Bucks has been delivering the simple message to thousands of high school students throughout Bucks County: Buckle up because seatbelts save lives.

Now with the program in its tenth year the message has been sinking in. Data gathered back in 2007-08 showed that seatbelt use by students who drive from Bucks County high schools at the end of the school day averaged around 60 percent. While alarming on its own, this low rate of seatbelt use became more concerning when compared with the 90 percent seatbelt use by all adults in Bucks County at the time. The problem was clearly identified but what could be done to change this? Enter TMA Bucks.

TMA Bucks came up with a creative solution of pitting high schools against each other in the form of a challenge to see which schools could generate the greatest percentage of seatbelt use (Read all about the Challenge here: http://www.tmabucks.com/events/bucks-county-high-school-seat-belt-safety-challenge/). The Bucks County High School Seatbelt Safety Challenge encourages participating high schools to raise their student driver seatbelt usage over the course of the year as various student groups at each school work to actively promote seatbelt use within the student body using posters, t-shirts, school-wide announcements and other creative messages. In spring, a follow-up survey is conducted at each of the participating schools. The school with the highest overall percentage in seatbelt use and the school with the greatest percentage increase in seatbelt use are both awarded with perpetual trophy plaques and $500 cash grants for safety-related use by the school.

“The students get really excited and enthusiastic about the fact that they are competing against other schools,” said TMA Bucks communications manager David Walter. “The competition aspect makes it fun but it also gives the students that extra push to make positive change in seatbelt behavior in their school communities.” Over the years, the data has shown how successful the program has been (see attached chart). Each year of the seatbelt challenge the total combined percentage of student driver seatbelt use by participating schools has increased from the fall semester to the spring semester and most recently the total combined school average for baseline surveys this past fall was 90 percent for the first time.

“To see the program delivering such great results that are potentially saving lives is just remarkable to be a part of,” said Walter, who has managed the program from the start. While the TMA plays its part in laying the groundwork for success, Walter makes sure to credit others. “At the end of the day it’s the teachers and students involved with the program that are truly making a difference. They are the ones working hard all school year to develop creative ways to encourage their peers to wear their seatbelts.”

Some of those creative ways come in the form of videos as part of the Bucks County High School Seatbelt Safety Challenge all high schools have the opportunity to also produce and submit a 30-second video PSA on teen driver safety as part of the Teen Driver Video PSA Challenge powered by Comcast. The videos can deal with any aspect of driver safety and the school selected as the winner gets a $500 cash grant and their video plays on Comcast. The idea to include the video PSA contest as part of the Seatbelt Challenge was a way to enhance the overall safety message. “The video PSA part of the challenge not only gets more students involved in the awareness of the Seatbelt Challenge in the schools but it gives the students a tool to use to promote safe driving and help spread the message effectively,” said Walter. “Technology is a huge part of any teenager’s every day life so it just made sense to incorporate this into our program.” For Walter, it was also important to continue to keep the excitement of the program moving forward. “The video PSAs being added as a part of our Seatbelt Challenge a few years ago really injected a new sense of energy and enthusiasm into the initiative for the students and teachers. We also wanted to make sure we were able to not just promote seatbelt safety but all aspects of teen driver safety as concerns like distracted driving were growing.”

Last year’s challenge saw 19 high schools compete and New Hope-Solebury High School had the highest overall seatbelt use (97 percent) while Quakertown Community High School achieved the greatest percentage increase as they posted a five percent jump in seatbelt usage from baseline surveys (87 percent in the fall to 92 percent in the spring). Pennsbury High School was voted the winner of the Teen Driver Safety Video PSA Challenge portion of the contest.