"Flash for life": Community-based prompting for safety belt promotion.

A community-based strategy for promoting safety belt use was field-tested in two adjacent rural communities, one populated by a preponderance of students, faculty, and staff of a major university. The intervention involved the front-seat passenger of a stopped vehicle displaying to the driver of an adjacent, stopped vehicle an 11 x 14 inch flash card that read, "PLEASE BUCKLE UP-I CARE." If the driver buckled up, the "flasher" flipped over the card and displayed the message, "THANK YOU." This flash card was shown to 1,087 unbuckled drivers; 82% of these drivers looked at the flash card and 22% of these complied with the buckle-up request. Compliance was not influenced by the age or gender of the "flasher" (young child vs. college student), nor by the gender of the driver; but significantly more drivers in the university town buckled up following the flash card presentation (25% mean compliance in the college town vs. 14% in the other community). To date, over 2,000 individuals have received a buckle-up flash card for their own use.