Some states have launched new behavioral-based traffic safety campaigns focused more on public awareness, education, and individual responsibility. While these campaigns can present some evidence of their effectiveness, often it is limited to communication outputs rather than behavioral outcomes. A better understanding of how to engage road users effectively in such campaigns and ways to measure effectiveness would help create successful and sustainable initiatives.
The objective of this research is to develop a scalable framework for state highway safety offices that (1) identifies components and examples of successful traffic safety public education and awareness efforts designed to elicit behavioral change; (2) outlines the critical components and steps for conducting and evaluating such efforts; and (3) provides a framework for how to implement and evaluate efforts to effectively engage road users and encourage behavioral changes to improve their safety performance.