Number 312 June 2006

Traffic Safety Facts

Traffic Tech – Technology Transfer Series

Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks in 

Washington State

Congress directed the National Highway Traffic Safety 

Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to work together to “educate the motoring public 

on how to share the road safely with commercial motor vehicles”

(CMVs) in 2004 and 2005. Washington State piloted this 

project because of its success in implementing other highway safety enforcement projects such as the Washington 

State Patrol (WSP) Step Up and R.I.D.E. program in Seattle. 

The local project put a trooper in a large truck to observe 

unsafe driving behaviors and radio other troopers ahead 

who then stopped and ticketed the driver. 

Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT) combined 

the Step Up and R.I.D.E. program with high visibility 

enforcement directed at unsafe driving by any vehicle 

around CMVs. The Washington Traffic Safety Commission 

(WTSC) chose four high crash interstate corridors, each 

approximately 25 miles in length. Two intervention corridors received TACT media and increased enforcement: I-5 

near Bellingham, and I-5 near Olympia. Two comparison 

corridors received no TACT media or increased enforcement: I‐5 near Kalama, and I-90 just west of Spokane.

Cutting Off Trucks Message

After considering a number of unsafe driving behaviors, TACT addressed the unsafe behavior of “cutting off 

trucks.” Public awareness activities and paid media increased awareness among all motorists of the need to leave 

one car length for every 10 miles of speed when merging in 

front of trucks. WTSC developed a road sign to communicate the safe merging distance and enforcement messages. 

An advertisement created for radio aired between July 7 

and October 20, 2005 in Olympia and Bellingham (in Seattle it ran until September 4). The ad ran 45 times Monday 

through Friday during major drive times (6 a.m. through 7 

p.m.) on all major radio stations in the intervention areas. 

The message reached more than one million people in the 

Seattle media market, 113,200 in Olympia, and 42,800 in 

Bellingham. Additional media activities included TV and 

newspaper coverage, posters, road signs, and large trucks 

wrapped in TACT banners that traveled up and down the 

intervention corridors. Applying the Click It or Ticket high 

visibility enforcement 

model to the TACT 

pilot project, WTSC 

ran the media at the 

intervention sites prior 

to and during the two 

enforcement waves. 

Media started on the 

Monday following the 

July 4th, 2005 holiday and continued through the end of 

enforcement in the last week of September 2005. 

Enforcement Activity

Two waves of enforcement each lasting two weeks (July 

11-22 and September 19‐30, 2005) took place at the intervention sites. Increased enforcement was deployed Monday through Friday, from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Crash data had 

shown that most CMV/passenger vehicle (PV) collisions 

occurred weekdays during the morning commute and 

lunch hours. State and local law enforcement officers rode 

in the CMVs, equipped with mobile radios. WSP aviation 

supported the enforcement, and marked and unmarked 

patrol vehicles made the traffic stops. 

Citation Data

A total of 4,737 contacts with drivers were made during the 

two enforcement waves, approximately 237 contacts per 

day over the 20 days of special TACT enforcement. Most 

contacts resulted in a citation being issued (72%) while 28 

percent resulted in warnings. PV drivers accounted for 

86 percent of contacts and CMV drivers 14 percent. Most 

stopped drivers were male (73%) and the average age 

was 52. Most were residents of western Washington (28% 

lived near the Bellingham intervention corridor, 21% near 

the Tacoma intervention corridor, and 22% lived in other 

western Washington communities). Very few drivers were 

from eastern Washington (less than 1%), while many were 

from Canada (13%) and other States (15%). The numbers 

of driver contacts were equally distributed across days 

of the week with the largest proportion (17%) of contacts 

during the morning commute hours (7 a.m. to 8 a.m.).

U.S. Department of Transportation 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
TRAFFIC TECH is a publication to disseminate information 

about traffic safety programs, including evaluations, innovative programs, and new publications. Feel free to copy it as 

you wish. If you would like to receive a copy, contact Patricia 

Ellison Potter, Ph.D., Editor, fax 202-366-7096, e-mail: patricia.

ellison-potter@nhtsa.dot.gov. 

400 Seventh Street, SW., NTI-130

Washington, DC 20590

Drivers Saw and Heard TACT Messages

The Washington State Department of Licensing (DOL) 

administered public awareness surveys to 6,155 motorists 

who visited the DOL offices serving the four test corridors. 

Overall, drivers at the intervention sites who said they saw 

or heard any of the TACT messages increased from 17.7 

percent in the pre period to 67.3 percent in the post period. 

Drivers at the intervention sites also reported increased 

exposure to the core message of leaving more space when 

passing trucks (14% pre to 40% post). Intervention site 

drivers reported increased exposure to the message via 

road signs (4% pre to 40% post), radio ads (3% pre to 18% 

post), television (5% pre to 15% post) and newspaper (4% 

pre to 9% post). Drivers at comparison sites showed no 

changes in exposure.

Self Reported Behavior Change

The percentage of drivers who said they leave more room 

when passing trucks than when passing cars, rose from 16 

percent in the pre period to 24 percent in the post period 

at the intervention sites, while comparison sites showed 

no change. 

Percent Who Saw or Heard Media About Giving Semi 

Trucks Space

Observed Changes in Driving Behaviors

Five waves of driving behaviors (1 pre and 4 post intervention) were recorded on video by WSP troopers who 

followed semi trucks in unmarked cars using a predetermined observation and recording protocol. Approximately 160 hours of video (8 hours x 4 sites x 5 waves) 

was collected containing 1,843 sequences in which a PV 

crossed paths with a CMV (whether or not a violation was 

committed). Statistical analyses showed that violation 

rates were reduced significantly at the intervention sites 

(between 23% and 46%), while rates remained constant at 

the comparison sites.

Seriousness of Violations

Three groups of participants blind to the study (5 truckers, 6 WSP officers, and 6 highway safety professionals) 

rated a random sample of video violation sequences to 

determine if any changes in the seriousness of violations 

occurred after the TACT program. Post intervention violations at the intervention sites were rated as lower in crash 

risk, less intentional, less illegal, and less intimidating than 

in the pre period. 

Percent Who Said They Are Leaving More Space When 

Passing Semi Trucks

Summary

The evaluation provides a consistent picture of the effectiveness of the TACT pilot project. Success was demonstrated at every step — messages were received and understood, knowledge was changed in the intended direction, 

self reported behavior improved, and observed behavior 

confirmed the self reports. 

How to Order 

For a copy of Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks 

(TACT) in Washington State: High Visibility Enforcement 

Applied to Share the Road Safely (41 pages plus appendices) download at www.nhtsa.dot.gov. In a few weeks the 

printed report will be available by writing to the Office 

of Behavioral Safety Research, NHTSA, NTI-130, 400 

Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC 20590, or send a fax to 

202-366-7096. Linda Cosgrove, Ph.D., was the evaluation 

contract manager.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Intervention

Comparison

Pre Post

17.7 17.0

67.3

19.9

% Saw/Heard Any Media

Period

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Intervention

Comparison

Pre Post

16.4 14.9

24.3

16.1

% Leaving More Space

Period