|
Hispanic Outreach. While Hispanics do not constitute a large percentage of the population in South Carolina, the Diversity Outreach Subcommittee recognized the importance of engaging them in the campaign. Colonel Amos met with leadership in the Hispanic Outreach Coalition to discuss Click It or Ticket and a special “Fact Sheet on Hispanics and Seatbelt Usage” was developed and translated into Spanish by a Diversity Outreach Subcommittee volunteer. The fact sheet was distributed to the Hispanic Outreach Coalition to be used in their outreach to the Hispanic community. Click It or Ticket announcements were placed in the state’s Hispanic publications as well.
|
|
“This represented the most massive non-emergency enforcement mobilization in South Carolina history. More than 3,300 driver’s license checkpoints were conducted by state and local enforcement agencies.”
|
Campaign Results. During the 14-day period, over two hundred local agencies participated in this monumental effort, along with uniformed officers from State Transport Police, State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), Probation and Parole Board, Department of Natural Resources, and the Criminal Justice Academy. This represented the most massive non-emergency enforcement mobilization in South Carolina history. More than 3,300 driver’s license checkpoints were conducted by state and local enforcement agencies (local jurisdictions served as lead agencies on 761 license checkpoints). At these checkpoints, officers issued 19,815 seat belt and 1,506 child restraint citations. Other violations included 939 Driving Under the Influence and 839 Driving Under Suspension arrests. Seven stolen vehicles were recovered and 27 fugitives were apprehended.
The media effort proved very successful with 95.2% of the motorists surveyed reporting recently reading, seeing, or hearing the South Carolina Click It or Ticket ads (by the final week of the campaign). Safety belt use rates improved dramatically, particularly among the nonwhite population. Overall usage rates increased from 65.5% to 73.9%. Nonwhite use rates increased from 56.1% to 70.4%, an astounding 14.3 percentage points. Seat belt use among males increased from 59.2% to 67.9%, an increase of 11.5%. A sampling of safety belt use in three rural counties (during the enforcement phase) noted usage rates as high as 83%. Finally, there was a 29.5% decrease in fatalities (31 deaths in 2000 compared to 44 fatalities during the same period in 1999).
|
“Safety belt use rates improved dramatically, particularly among the nonwhite population.”
|
