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Click It was effective, officials say

By CHUCK CRUMBO
Staff Writer
the State
South Carolina's Largest Newspaper

Although it's now buried in the graveyard of S.C. politics, the recent Click It or Ticket campaign produced results safety officials had hoped for: Fewer people died on the road, and more people buckled up.
During the 14-day blitz that ran from May 21 through June 3, highway fatalities dropped 42 percent and seat belt use climbed by 5 percentage points, said Max Young of the Department of Public Safety.
"That clearly tells us the campaign was worthwhile," said Young, director of the state's Office of Highway Safety.
Regardless, Click It or Ticket won't be around in South Carolina for another blitz even though 14 other states have adopted it as the model for their seat belt enforcement campaigns.
The S.C. Legislature voted to ban the program. Legislators did so at the same time they passed a law allowing police to ticket a driver if anyone 17 and younger isn't wearing a seat belt or strapped into a safety seat.
Libertarian forces in the Republican-controlled Legislature feared Click It or Ticket, endorsed by Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges, amounted to an invasion of privacy because police used safety checkpoints to spot unbuckled drivers and passengers. The ban prohibits checkpoints solely to enforce the seat belt law.
Rejection of Click It or Ticket prompted some safety advocates to question whether South Carolina, which has the second-highest road death rate in the nation, supports public safety.
"We've never seen this type of situation unfold in a state," said Belinda Jackson, regional program director of the National Highway Safety Transportation Administration. "It's a matter of saving lives, and, in Click It or Ticket, we saw a campaign that made a difference."
Tom Crosby, vice president of Carolinas AAA, which has about 400,000 members in the Palmetto State, said the ban is a slap in the face to the motoring public.
"The Legislature continues to show a cavalier attitude toward public safety," Crosby said. "How can a legislator consciously do this?"
However, Sen. Joe Wilson, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee and an opponent of Click It or Ticket, worried that checkpoints were dangerous and represented an expansion of big government.
"How could you not be in favor of highway safety?" said Wilson, R-Lexington. "But where it becomes intrusive in people's lives, I think it is inappropriate."
Through public education and enforcement of the 17-and-younger seat belt law, which Hodges signed July 3, Wilson said he believes the state can achieve "realistic" goals.
'Regrouping right now'
Despite the controversy, Young said Click It or Ticket seemed to make roads safer.
The Public Safety Department counted 21 road deaths during the two-week stretch, Young said. That compared with 36 fatalities during a similar period in 2000.
Surveys before the enforcement blitz pegged seat belt use among drivers and passengers at 65 percent. After the campaign, belt use rose to 70 percent.
The increase was about half of the nine-point increase recorded after the first Click It or Ticket campaign in November and December, when 74 percent of drivers and passengers buckled up.
Young attributed the lower number to a more limited campaign. Police agencies, including the Highway Patrol, manned 1,300 checkpoints during the May-June campaign, compared with 3,300 checkpoints in the November-December effort.
The state also spent about half as much money during the May-June campaign on TV commercials, Young said.
Despite a lower-profiled campaign, public awareness was high during the May-June effort, Young said. Surveys showed that 93 percent of respondents had heard about Click It or Ticket. That topped the 85.6 percent average of the eight Southeastern states that participated in the May-June effort.
Seven other states in the region joined South Carolina in the May-June effort, and all reported that Click It or Ticket boosted seat belt use, Jackson said.
Tennessee achieved the biggest increase, reporting seat belt use rose 19 points to 73 percent, Jackson said. Mississippi was second with a 15-point increase to 64 percent; Kentucky third, 12 points to 70 percent; and, Georgia fourth, 10 points to 82 percent.
Florida boosted seat belt use 8 points to 69 percent, while Alabama climbed 7 points to 78 percent. North Carolina had the smallest increase at 3 percentage points, but it also reported the highest use of seat belts at 84 percent. North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama are the only states that allow police to stop and ticket drivers, regardless of age, for not wearing a seat belt.
While other states are making plans for their next Click It or Ticket campaign, South Carolina will have to come up with another approach to achieve the same results, Young said.
The Click It or Ticket brand name already has been dropped in favor of a less catchy term, Special Occupant Restraint Program.
"We're regrouping right now," Young said. "We want to make sure whatever we do is correct, appropriate and continues to move these numbers."

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