Policy Evaluation: Motor Vehicle Safety Primary Seatbelt Law in Rhode Island Policy Evaluation

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Gwen Baldwin
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2 Policy Evaluation: Motor Vehicle Safety Primary Seatbelt Law in Rhode Island Policy Evaluation Jennifer Andrade Koziol, MPH Rhode Island Department of Health

3 Rhode Island Evaluation Team Department of Health Program Coordinator: Jenn Andrade Koziol Department of Health Evaluator/Brown University: Deborah Pearlman Department of Transportation Director of Highway Safety Program: Francisco Lovera Enhanced HEALTH s partnership with RIDOT

4 Primary Seat Belt Law (PBL) Passed in July 2011 with a sunset clause Due to automatically expire in July of 2013 Why? Concerns about an increase in racial profiling ~$1 million federal dollars were at risk Goal of evaluation: demonstrate public health benefits of maintaining a permanent primary seat belt law in Rhode Island

5 Evaluation Questions 1. Have motor vehicle fatalities decreased since the passage of the PBL? Data source: FARS data (RIDOT) 2. Have counts of injuries varied by level of severity pre and post passage of the PBL? Data source: Crash Records Database (RIDOT) 3. Has the seat belt usage rate increased since the passage of the PBL? Data source: NOPUS 4. Has there been an increase in racial profiling since the passage of the PBL? Data source: RI police departments

6 Additional Evaluation Questions to explore with more time and resources What is the extent of the public s knowledge about the PBL and attitudes toward it? What is the extent of law enforcement s knowledge about the PBL and attitudes toward it?

7 Evaluation Period Pre-implementation: Jan June 2011 (18 months prior to passage of PBL) Post-implementation: July Dec (18 after PBL went into effect) Preliminary data only

8 Evaluation Results: Fatalities Rhode Island Motor Vehicle Fatalities by use of Restraint* Restrained Unrestrained Data source: National Highway Safety Administration Traffic Safety Facts, *Percentages shown in Figure 1 exclude cases where type of restraint was unknown.

Evaluation Results: Severity of Motor Vehicle Crash Outcomes Crash outcomes for Rhode Islanders Pre-and Post-PBL Data source: Rhode Island Department of Transportation Crash Data

9 Evaluation Results: Severity of Motor Vehicle Crash Outcomes Crash outcomes for Rhode Islanders Pre-and Post-PBL Data source: Rhode Island Department of Transportation Crash Data Management System. Data excludes children age 12 and under. It is not possible to know if a child younger than 13 year was properly restrained because their height and weight is not known.

10 Evaluation Results: Seat belt use Rhode Island Observed Seat Belt Usage Rate 85.00% 80.00% 80.40% 78.00% 77.50% 75.00% Data Source: National Occupant Protection Observation Survey (NOPOS)

11 Evaluation Results: Racial Profiling Race data collection began in October No data were available at the time of the evaluation report.

12 Conclusion of Evaluation A comprehensive evaluation of the public health impact of the law is not possible National data is very conclusive Over time, Rhode Island will experience the benefits of PBL, if the sunset clause is eliminated.

13 Facilitators 1. Data sharing MOU with RIDOT 2. Availability of National data Data made a very strong case for an expected decrease in fatalities (8 %) and an increase in seat belt use rate (10-14%). Several studies show no change in racial profiling rates.

14 Barriers Sunset clause is unique to Rhode Island Public opinion was low No race data available Limited years of data Data did not say what we expected (based on national data)

15 Communicating the Results Evaluation report published in April 2013 Shared with all Traffic Safety Coalition partners (MVP subcommittee of ICPG) Used to inform in-person testimony and letters of support for the bill Messages used in PBL advertisements (ProJo, Precensia, and Providence American)

16 Choreography of Testimony RIDOT = RI Department of Transportation SEDC = South Asian Development Center HEALTH = Department of Health OHHS = Office of Health and Human Services RISP = RI State Police RIPCA = RI Police Chiefs Association NHTSA = National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

17 Timeline of Bill 4/11/13: Bill is heard in Senate and recommended for further study 4/23/13: Bill is heard in House and recommended for further study 5/09/13: House passes the bill 6/27/13: Senate passes the bill with an amendment (lowering fine from $85 to $40) 6/28/13: House passes bill with amendment 07/02/13: Governor signs bill into law!!!

18 Next Steps Continue to track outcome measures, such as seat belt usage rates, fatality data, crash severity data, and race data Explore funding for qualitative evaluation on public and law enforcement perception RIDOT has $1 million to fund communitybased agencies to do outreach to minority communities on law

19 Jennifer Andrade Koziol Unintentional Injury Program Coordinator

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