a

GAO

United States Government Accountability Office

Report to Congressional Committees

September 2006 TRUCK SAFETY

Share the Road Safely 

Pilot Initiative Showed 

Promise, but the 

Program’s Future 

Success Is Uncertain

GAO-06-916
What GAO Found

United States Government Accountability Office

Why GAO Did This Study

Highlights

Accountability Integrity Reliability

September 2006

TRUCK SAFETY

Share the Road Safely Pilot Initiative 

Showed Promise, but the Program's 

Future Success Is Uncertain 

Highlights of GAO-06-916, a report to 

congressional committees 

In 2004, over 5,000 people died on 

our nation’s roads in crashes 

involving large trucks. The 

Department of Transportation’s 

(DOT) Federal Motor Carrier 

Safety Administration (FMCSA) 

operates truck safety programs,

including Share the Road Safely 

(STRS), which has a goal to

improve driving behavior around 

large trucks. At congressional

direction, the National Highway 

Traffic Safety Administration 

(NHTSA) assumed responsibility

for funding STRS in 2004, but 

returned STRS to FMCSA in 2006. 

The current transportation 

authorization bill requested GAO to 

update its 2003 evaluation of STRS. 

This report (1) describes the STRS 

initiatives DOT has implemented 

since 2003 and their design, 

(2) reviews evaluations of STRS 

initiatives, and (3) assesses DOT’s 

plans for the future of STRS. GAO 

interviewed DOT and state 

officials, and reviewed program 

plans and evaluations. 

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that the 

Secretary of Transportation

develop a strategy for expanding 

TACT-like initiatives, and 

determine the best method for 

using DOT’s resources and 

expertise to modify driver 

behavior. DOT officials clarified 

and updated information in a draft 

of this report and generally agreed

with the recommendations. 

During 2004 and 2005, Share the Road Safely funding was used to implement 

one initiative, a pilot in Washington State that focused on aggressive driving

behaviors near or by large trucks. Known as Ticketing Aggressive Cars and 

Trucks (TACT), it combined education, such as highway message signs, and 

high-visibility law enforcement to reduce aggressive driving. TACT received

about $892,000 in federal and state funds. TACT was generally modeled on 

successful behavior modification programs, including Click It or Ticket (a 

program to encourage safety belt use), but was more complex to implement 

than past initiatives since many behaviors constitute aggressive driving and 

Washington State lacked a single aggressive driving law. In addition, NHTSA 

sought to demonstrate to FMCSA staff how to operate similar initiatives in 

the future. To this end, FMCSA sent a liaison to NHTSA as requested by 

Congress. Lastly, initiatives that were a part of STRS in 2003 were still 

pursued by FMCSA, but were not funded. 

DOT and Washington State officials conducted an evaluation of TACT that 

demonstrated that the initiative was successful and well-designed. The 

evaluation found that TACT significantly reduced the number and severity of 

unsafe driving acts near or by trucks. While the evaluation did not assess 

changes in crashes, improved driver behavior should logically lead to fewer 

crashes, injuries, and fatalities. GAO found that TACT’s design of combining 

education with law enforcement better lent itself to reaching agency goals of 

fatality reduction than previous STRS initiatives that were purely 

educational. 

FMCSA plans to expand development of new TACT-like initiatives, but lacks 

resources and experience to do so. In addition, FMCSA plans to spend most 

of its 2006 STRS funds on educational initiatives, which lack information 

showing whether they improve driver behavior. In terms of TACT expansion, 

FMCSA is currently developing a TACT-like pilot in Pennsylvania and plans

to roll out initiatives similar to TACT nationally by 2009. FMCSA, however, 

has few people dedicated to education and outreach and lacks NHTSA’s 

experience with behavior modification initiatives. While FMCSA designated

a liaison to learn about TACT-like initiatives, GAO continues to have concerns about FMCSA’s limited experience with these initiatives. NHTSA has 

considerable experience with such initiatives, but its role in STRS is still 

evolving. Finally, FMCSA plans to spend the majority of its fiscal year 2006

STRS funds on initiatives that do not have evaluations showing their 

impacts.

Highway Message Sign and Law Enforcement Used in the Washington State Pilot Initiative 

Sources: Washington Traffic Safety Commission and the KOMO television station.

www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-916.

To view the full product, including the scope 

and methodology, click on the link above. 

For more information, contact Katherine 

Siggerud at (202) 512-2834 or 

siggerudk@gao.gov. 
What GAO Found

United States Government Accountability Office

Why GAO Did This Study

Highlights

Accountability Integrity Reliability

September 2006

TRUCK SAFETY

Share the Road Safely Pilot Initiative 

Showed Promise, but the Program's 

Future Success Is Uncertain 

Highlights of GAO-06-916, a report to 

congressional committees 

In 2004, over 5,000 people died on 

our nation’s roads in crashes 

involving large trucks. The 

Department of Transportation’s 

(DOT) Federal Motor Carrier 

Safety Administration (FMCSA) 

operates truck safety programs,

including Share the Road Safely 

(STRS), which has a goal to

improve driving behavior around 

large trucks. At congressional

direction, the National Highway 

Traffic Safety Administration 

(NHTSA) assumed responsibility

for funding STRS in 2004, but 

returned STRS to FMCSA in 2006. 

The current transportation 

authorization bill requested GAO to 

update its 2003 evaluation of STRS. 

This report (1) describes the STRS 

initiatives DOT has implemented 

since 2003 and their design, 

(2) reviews evaluations of STRS 

initiatives, and (3) assesses DOT’s 

plans for the future of STRS. GAO 

interviewed DOT and state 

officials, and reviewed program 

plans and evaluations. 

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that the 

Secretary of Transportation

develop a strategy for expanding 

TACT-like initiatives, and 

determine the best method for 

using DOT’s resources and 

expertise to modify driver 

behavior. DOT officials clarified 

and updated information in a draft 

of this report and generally agreed

with the recommendations. 

During 2004 and 2005, Share the Road Safely funding was used to implement 

one initiative, a pilot in Washington State that focused on aggressive driving

behaviors near or by large trucks. Known as Ticketing Aggressive Cars and 

Trucks (TACT), it combined education, such as highway message signs, and 

high-visibility law enforcement to reduce aggressive driving. TACT received

about $892,000 in federal and state funds. TACT was generally modeled on 

successful behavior modification programs, including Click It or Ticket (a 

program to encourage safety belt use), but was more complex to implement 

than past initiatives since many behaviors constitute aggressive driving and 

Washington State lacked a single aggressive driving law. In addition, NHTSA 

sought to demonstrate to FMCSA staff how to operate similar initiatives in 

the future. To this end, FMCSA sent a liaison to NHTSA as requested by 

Congress. Lastly, initiatives that were a part of STRS in 2003 were still 

pursued by FMCSA, but were not funded. 

DOT and Washington State officials conducted an evaluation of TACT that 

demonstrated that the initiative was successful and well-designed. The 

evaluation found that TACT significantly reduced the number and severity of 

unsafe driving acts near or by trucks. While the evaluation did not assess 

changes in crashes, improved driver behavior should logically lead to fewer 

crashes, injuries, and fatalities. GAO found that TACT’s design of combining 

education with law enforcement better lent itself to reaching agency goals of 

fatality reduction than previous STRS initiatives that were purely 

educational. 

FMCSA plans to expand development of new TACT-like initiatives, but lacks 

resources and experience to do so. In addition, FMCSA plans to spend most 

of its 2006 STRS funds on educational initiatives, which lack information 

showing whether they improve driver behavior. In terms of TACT expansion, 

FMCSA is currently developing a TACT-like pilot in Pennsylvania and plans

to roll out initiatives similar to TACT nationally by 2009. FMCSA, however, 

has few people dedicated to education and outreach and lacks NHTSA’s 

experience with behavior modification initiatives. While FMCSA designated

a liaison to learn about TACT-like initiatives, GAO continues to have concerns about FMCSA’s limited experience with these initiatives. NHTSA has 

considerable experience with such initiatives, but its role in STRS is still 

evolving. Finally, FMCSA plans to spend the majority of its fiscal year 2006

STRS funds on initiatives that do not have evaluations showing their 

impacts.

Highway Message Sign and Law Enforcement Used in the Washington State Pilot Initiative 

Sources: Washington Traffic Safety Commission and the KOMO television station.

www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-916.

To view the full product, including the scope 

and methodology, click on the link above. 

For more information, contact Katherine 

Siggerud at (202) 512-2834 or 

siggerudk@gao.gov. 
Page i GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Contents

Letter 1

Results in Brief 4

Background 7

During 2004 and 2005, the Share the Road Safely Program Funded a 

Reasonably Designed Education and Enforcement Pilot in 

Washington State 11

Evaluation of TACT Demonstrated Positive Results and Was 

Generally Well-Designed 17

FMCSA Plans Expanded Development of High-Visibility Law 

Enforcement Campaigns Similar to TACT, but Lacks a Clear 

Strategy and Expertise 23

Conclusions 29

Recommendations for Executive Action 30

Agency Comments 30

Appendixes

Appendix I: Scope And Methodology 32

Appendix II: TACT’s Implementation of the Click It or Ticket Model 34

Appendix III: Description of TACT Methodology for Analyzing Video 

Footage of Driver Behavior 35

Appendix IV: Staff Acknowledgments 36

Table Table 1: Planned STRS Outreach Activities for Fiscal Year 2006 28

Figures Figure 1: Number of Vehicle Occupants Killed in Large-Truck 

Crashes, by Vehicle Type (1995-2004) 8

Figure 2: TACT Intervention and Comparison Corridors in 

Washington State 12

Figure 3: Television News Coverage Used for TACT 13

Figure 4: TACT Highway Sign 16

Figure 5: Rate of Violations per Observation Hour 18

Figure 6: Percentages of Survey Respondents That Saw or Heard 

Media about Giving Trucks More Space 20

Figure 7: Expected Program Model Logic Results of TACT 

Initiative 22

Figure 8: Planned STRS Funding for Fiscal Year 2006 27
Contents

Page ii GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Abbreviations

DOT Department of Transportation

FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

MCSAP Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program

NHTSA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

SAFETEA-LU Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity 

Act: A Legacy for Users

STEP Selective Traffic Enforcement Program

STRS Share the Road Safely

TACT Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the 

United States. It may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without further 

permission from GAO. However, because this work may contain copyrighted images or 

other material, permission from the copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to 

reproduce this material separately.
Page 1 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, D.C. 20548

A

September 8, 2006 Letr

The Honorable Ted Stevens 

Chairman

The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye 

Co-Chairman

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

United States Senate 

The Honorable Don Young

Chairman

The Honorable James L. Oberstar

Ranking Democratic Member

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

House of Representatives

In 2004, over 42,000 people died on our nation’s roads. About 12 percent 

(5,190) of these fatalities occurred in collisions involving large commercial 

trucks, in which many more occupants were killed in the other vehicles 

than in the trucks. Furthermore, large-truck traffic has increased 

significantly (33 percent) from 1994 through 2004. This trend seems likely 

to continue as the Transportation Research Board estimates that truck 

traffic will increase by 3.5 percent annually.1

 However, according to the 

Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Large Truck Crash Causation 

Study,

2

 passenger-vehicle drivers were responsible for the majority of these 

large commercial truck crashes. The study found that specific passengervehicle driver behaviors, such as driving too fast for road conditions and 

making illegal maneuvers, contributed significantly to crashes involving 

large commercial trucks. 

Within DOT, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is 

responsible for improving the safety of commercial-vehicle operations, 

which include interstate truck and motor coach (bus) companies, while the 

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has a mission to 

reduce deaths, injuries, and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle 

crashes. FMCSA has set a safety goal to reduce the rate of fatalities from an 

1

The Transportation Research Board did not establish a timeline for how long this increase 

will last.

2

U.S. Department of Transportation, Report to Congress on the Large Truck Crash 

Causation Study (Washington, D.C.: March 2006). 
Page 2 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

estimated 2.81 per 100 million truck-miles traveled in 1996 to no more than 

1.65 by the end of 2008. In 2004, the fatality rate for truck-related crashes 

was 2.3 per 100 million truck-miles traveled. To work toward its 2008 goal, 

FMCSA leads enforcement efforts such as working with and providing 

grants to states to enforce Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. In 

addition, FMCSA operates several education and outreach programs. Share 

the Road Safely (STRS) is one such program that aims to support FMCSA’s 

goal by educating and changing the driving behavior of both passengervehicle and truck drivers so that they may interact safely with one another 

on the road.3

 NHTSA sets and enforces safety standards for motor vehicles 

and motor vehicle equipment and provides grants to states to improve 

passenger-vehicle driver safety. 

In recent years, we raised concerns about FMCSA’s education and outreach 

efforts. In 2003, we reported that STRS lacked a clear program strategy and 

included activities that were only tenuously linked to program goals.4

 We 

also reported that FMCSA had not recently evaluated the program’s 

effectiveness. Consequently, we recommended that DOT ensure that STRS 

initiatives are directly linked to the program’s goals, and that DOT establish 

a systematic process for evaluating the program’s effectiveness. We also 

suggested that FMCSA apply strategies used by other parts of DOT, such as 

NHTSA, to its evaluations of STRS. In fiscal year 2004, Congress 

transferred funding for the program to NHTSA, an agency that sets and 

enforces safety standards for motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment 

and provides grants to states to improve passenger-vehicle driver safety. 

Additionally, the Conference Report accompanying the DOT appropriations 

act for fiscal year 2004 indicates the conferees wanted NHTSA and FMCSA 

to apply lessons learned from NHTSA’s experience with high-visibility law 

enforcement campaigns to STRS to educate drivers on how to drive safely 

around large trucks. The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient 

Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)—which 

authorized the federal surface transportation programs for highways, 

highway safety, and transit between 2005 and 2009—annually provided $3 

million to NHTSA and $1 million to FMCSA for administering education 

and outreach activities associated with commercial-vehicle safety, such as 

3

Other education and outreach activities include a safety belt program aimed at increasing 

safety belt use among commercial drivers, and a new entrant program designed to inform 

newly registered motor carriers about motor carrier safety standards and regulations. 

4

GAO, Truck Safety: Share the Road Safely Program Needs Better Evaluation of Its 

Initiatives, GAO-03-680 (Washington, D.C.: May 30, 2003). 
Page 3 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

STRS. The Conference Report accompanying the DOT appropriations act 

for fiscal year 2006, however, indicates that the conferees allocated the 

entire $4 million for education and outreach activities associated with 

commercial-vehicle safety to FMCSA, including $500,000 for STRS 

initiatives. 

SAFETEA-LU also asked us to update our 2003 evaluation of STRS to 

determine if the program has achieved reductions in the number and 

severity of commercial motor vehicle crashes, including reductions in the 

number of deaths and the severity of injuries sustained in these crashes. To 

update our 2003 STRS report and assess the impact of the program on the 

interaction between large commercial trucks and passenger vehicles, we 

(1) describe what STRS initiatives DOT has implemented since 2003 and 

assess whether its initiatives are reasonably designed; (2) review the 

results of DOT evaluations of STRS initiatives and assess the evaluation 

methods; and (3) assess DOT’s plans for the future of STRS initiatives.

To determine how STRS has changed since 2003 and whether the design of 

its initiatives is reasonable, we interviewed DOT officials and reviewed 

agency documents. Additionally, we interviewed FMCSA, NHTSA, and local 

officials involved in the operation of the STRS pilot initiative in Washington 

State and reviewed related program documents. We examined the design of 

the Washington State pilot to determine how it compares with other 

initiatives intended to modify driver behavior, and whether the pilot’s 

activities links to agency goals. We did not assess the design of other STRS 

initiatives because they were not funded in 2004 and 2005, and we reported 

on these initiatives in our 2003 report. To determine what the evaluation of 

STRS pilot initiative showed, we reviewed evaluation plans and evaluation 

results and spoke with DOT and state officials responsible for conducting 

the evaluation. We also compared DOT’s evaluation approach with 

accepted evaluation methods. Although SAFETEA-LU asked us to 

determine if STRS achieved reductions in the number of deaths and the 

severity of injuries sustained in commercial-vehicle crashes, DOT’s 

evaluation did not assess these outcomes because the number of fatalities 

and injuries on DOT’s study corridors were too low to reliably measure any 

appreciable change. Therefore, we did not discuss in this report STRS’s 

impact on specific numbers of fatalities and injuries. To assess DOT’s 

future plans for STRS, we interviewed program administrators at DOT and 

reviewed provided budget and planning documents. We also compared the 

planned initiatives (1) with high-visibility law enforcement campaign 

models, shown to change behavior by prior research, to assess their 

implementation and (2) with the initiatives described in our prior report to 
Page 4 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

see how they have evolved. We conducted our review from October 2005 

through July 2006 in accordance with generally accepted government 

auditing standards. Appendix I provides additional details of our scope and 

methodology.

Results in Brief During fiscal years 2004 and 2005, the Share the Road Safely program 

funded one initiative that focused primarily on trying to reduce aggressive 

driving5

 behavior associated with car and truck crashes in Washington 

State. We found that this initiative was reasonably designed, and that it for 

the most part followed a model that combines education with enforcement 

activities. The Washington Traffic Safety Commission was the lead agency 

on this pilot initiative, known as Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks 

(TACT), with NHTSA providing significant implementation assistance and 

approximately $565,000 in funding. FMCSA developed initial plans for a 

multistate education and enforcement project, and after Congress provided 

STRS funds to NHTSA, FMCSA worked with NHTSA and Washington State. 

FMCSA also provided assistance for TACT that included initial crash 

analyses, reviews of project plans, and $100,000 in grants for enforcement. 

TACT centered on two, 2-week high-visibility law enforcement waves in 

July and September, 2005, along with outreach efforts, such as television 

news coverage and radio advertisements, to inform motorists of the 

dangers of aggressive driving and of the program’s initiatives. TACT 

planning documents state that the pilot was a high-visibility law 

enforcement campaign patterned on the Selective Traffic Enforcement 

Program (STEP) model, which combines educational and enforcement 

activities and has been shown by prior research to be more effective at 

changing driver behavior than education alone. NHTSA’s Click It or Ticket 

safety belt campaign6

 is an example of a successful high-visibility law 

enforcement campaign that is based on the STEP model. Our analysis of 

TACT’s implementation shows that it conformed to the high-visibility law 

enforcement campaign used in NHTSA’s Click It or Ticket campaign, with a 

couple of exceptions. For instance, the Click It or Ticket model calls for 

television advertising, which TACT did not use because of its limited 

5

In this report, “aggressive driving” refers specifically to unsafe driving acts involving cars 

and trucks, such as making unsafe lane changes, following another vehicle too closely, and 

speeding.

6

“Click It or Ticket” is a highway safety campaign that uses increased enforcement along 

with a media campaign to encourage safety belt use. 
Page 5 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

funding. Furthermore, although TACT was similar to other high-visibility 

law enforcement campaigns, it dealt with more complex issues. For 

example, Washington has no one specific law against aggressive driving, so 

officials had to ensure that the courts would cooperate with TACT’s 

enforcement efforts. By contrast, Washington’s laws specifically require 

safety belt use; therefore, enforcement during Click It or Ticket campaigns 

is more straightforward. To support the transfer of knowledge about 

implementing high-visibility law enforcement campaigns from NHTSA to 

FMCSA, the Conference Report accompanying the DOT appropriations act 

for fiscal year 2005 expressed the conferees’ expectation that FMCSA 

would detail one staff member to serve as a liaison to NHTSA. In response, 

FMCSA hired a liaison who came aboard after the completion of TACT’s 

last enforcement wave. Finally, other initiatives, such as educational 

brochures, that were a part of STRS in our 2003 review were not funded in 

2004 and 2005, but FMCSA continued to disseminate available education 

and outreach materials.

DOT and Washington State officials conducted an evaluation of TACT that 

demonstrated the pilot’s success in reducing aggressive driver behavior and 

found that the initiative had an acceptable experimental design for making 

this determination. Officials found reductions in the rates and seriousness 

of unsafe driving acts when they analyzed video footage of driver behavior 

before and after the pilot. Specifically, the rate of unsafe driving acts per 

hour was cut almost in half. Additionally, surveys of motorists 

demonstrated that TACT’s message of leaving more space around trucks 

successfully reached its target audience. Furthermore, we found that the 

evaluation was well-designed. It compared intervention groups that 

received educational and enforcement efforts with comparison groups that 

did not. This comparison enabled program administrators to attribute any 

positive changes in driver behavior to TACT initiatives. TACT’s evaluation 

design represents a positive step toward meeting our 2003 

recommendation that DOT establish a systematic process for evaluating 

the effectiveness of STRS. Although the TACT evaluation did not provide 

data regarding the impact of the pilot on the number of crashes in the 

corridors because those numbers were too low to assess, the evaluation 

relied on intermediate measures such as improved driver behavior, which 

should logically result in decreased crashes, injuries, and fatalities. In 

addition, by combining education and enforcement, the pilot was better 

designed to reach agency goals of improving driver behavior to reduce 

fatalities than past STRS initiatives that were focused solely on educating 

motorists on how trucks and cars should drive around each other, thereby 
Page 6 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

making progress toward meeting our 2003 recommendation that STRS 

initiatives link to STRS goals. 

Given the success of the TACT initiative in improving driver behavior, 

FMCSA is encouraging states to adopt TACT-like initiatives; however, the 

extent to which FMCSA will be able to successfully develop and implement 

these initiatives is uncertain. Furthermore, FMCSA’s STRS plans for fiscal 

year 2006 focus on initiatives that are strictly educational, which research 

has shown are more limited in their ability to improve driver behavior than 

educational initiatives linked with enforcement. However, FMCSA plans to 

evaluate the impact of these educational activities. FMCSA officials stated 

that by fiscal year 2009, they plan a nationwide rollout of initiatives, like 

TACT, that rely on education and enforcement to address poor driver 

behavior around commercial trucks. In the interim, FMCSA is contracting 

with Pennsylvania to conduct another TACT pilot, using primarily Motor 

Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) grants and state funding. 

FMCSA has recently set up a transition team of FMCSA and NHTSA staff to 

help develop a plan for achieving its 2009 goal and to resolve issues such as 

identifying a funding source for a nationwide program. In addition, 

FMCSA’s limited experience in implementing such initiatives raises 

concerns about its ability to develop and implement a nationwide program. 

For example, FMCSA has few people dedicated to education and outreach 

programs, and some officials commented that the agency lacks NHTSA’s 

experience overseeing the implementation of behavior modification 

initiatives. Also, one of these officials, the FMCSA liaison to NHTSA, 

missed opportunities for learning about the operation of TACT and other 

high-visibility law enforcement campaigns because of the time it took to fill 

the position. Furthermore, although FMCSA announced that states could 

apply for MCSAP funds to use for TACT-like initiatives, it did not provide 

guidance on how to proceed, and applications for these funds in 2006 were 

due before the evaluation of TACT was completed. Finally, FMCSA plans to 

spend the majority of its $500,000 fiscal year 2006 STRS funds on enhancing 

its Web site and sending brochures and other informational materials to 

commercial- and passenger-vehicle drivers—initiatives that are strictly 

educational. However, research has shown that the ability of educational 

initiatives such as these to improve driver behavior is more limited than 

when education is linked with enforcement. After we discussed our 

findings with FMCSA, officials decided to ask its contractor to evaluate 

these initiatives in fiscal year 2006, a year earlier than planned, with an 

expected evaluation report completed by fiscal year 2007. However, 

FMCSA has yet to identify specific performance goals and measures.
Page 7 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

We have concerns about the ability of the STRS initiatives to continue to 

improve driver behavior, given FMCSA’s limited staff, experience, and 

systematic plans for expanding high-visibility law enforcement campaigns 

and its focus on educational initiatives. Therefore, we are recommending 

that DOT continue to develop a comprehensive strategy to describe how it 

will achieve its goal of implementing TACT nationwide, and how STRS 

initiatives will contribute to this goal. We also recommend that the agency 

complete and execute plans to evaluate STRS outreach activities that are 

purely educational and discontinue activities where no impact can be 

demonstrated. Lastly, we recommend that DOT monitor whether FMCSA 

has sufficient staff and institutional experience to successfully develop and 

implement future high-visibility law enforcement campaigns, and, if it does 

not, determine how to use existing expertise within DOT to focus on and 

support STRS initiatives that combine education and enforcement. In 

commenting on a draft of this report, DOT officials generally agreed with 

our recommendations. The officials also clarified and updated information, 

such as the status of their evaluations, and provided technical comments, 

which we incorporated as appropriate. 

Background The occupants of other vehicles are several times more likely to die in 

crashes involving large commercial trucks than the occupants of the 

trucks.7

 From 1995 through 2004, there were 51,791 people killed in largetruck crashes. Of this total, 40,438 were occupants of other vehicles, while 

7,131 were the occupants of large trucks and 4,222 were nonmotorists, 

such as pedestrians. Figure 1 shows the number of passenger-vehicle and 

large-truck occupants killed in collisions involving large trucks from 1995 

through 2004, according to NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. 8

7

In presenting information on traffic fatalities, we used the most recent available data 

contained in NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System database. This database contains 

state-reported data on all traffic-related fatalities in the United States. 

8

In 2004, we presented information on traffic fatalities using data contained in NHTSA’s 

Fatality Analysis Reporting System database. We determined that these data were 

sufficiently reliable for reporting purposes. See GAO, Highway Safety: Federal and State 

Efforts to Address Rural Road Safety Challenges, GAO-04-663 (Washington, D.C.: May 28, 

2004).
Page 8 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Figure 1: Number of Vehicle Occupants Killed in Large-Truck Crashes, by Vehicle 

Type (1995-2004)

The Large Truck Crash Causation Study found behavior by drivers of 

passenger vehicles and trucks responsible for the majority of these largetruck crashes. In a large majority of crashes involving a single truck and a 

single passenger vehicle, driver behavior was deemed a critical reason for 

the crash—about 88 percent when the critical reason was assigned to the 

truck and about 89 percent when assigned to the passenger vehicle. The 

remaining critical reasons are primarily related to the vehicle and 

environment. The Large Truck Crash Causation Study lists driving too 

fast for road conditions, making illegal maneuvers, and driving under work 

pressure as factors contributing to crashes between large trucks and 

passenger vehicles, but the study does not list a specific factor for 

aggressive driving. 

FMCSA’s education and outreach activities represent a small portion of its 

total efforts to reduce fatalities caused by collisions involving large 

commercial vehicles. FMCSA, established in 2000 as a separate 

Source: NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov).

Year

Number of fatalities

0

550

1,100

1,650

2,200

2,750

3,300

3,850

4,400

4,950

5,500

Total occupants

Other vehicle occupants

Large-truck occupants

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Page 9 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

administration under DOT by the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 

1999, is responsible for improving the safety of commercial-vehicle 

operations on the nation’s highways. The agency’s overall goal is to reduce 

the rate of fatalities resulting from collisions involving large commercial 

trucks from the 1996 rate of 2.8 fatalities per 100 million truck miles 

traveled to 1.65 by 2008. FMCSA carries out its mission primarily through 

regulatory and enforcement programs, including developing and enforcing 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, administering MCSAP grants to 

states, and leading enforcement actions against operators who violate 

regulations. FMCSA also undertakes education and outreach activities, 

such as posting on its Web site regulations pertaining to the licensing of 

commercial drivers or the transporting of hazardous materials, and is also 

allocated funding for specific education and outreach programs. In fiscal 

year 2006, education and outreach funding accounted for about $4 million 

of FMCSA’s over $490 million budget. Also in fiscal year 2006, FMCSA plans 

to use education and outreach funding for activities supporting its Safety 

Belt program, which targeted commercial-vehicle drivers; public outreach 

on hiring motor coach services; and consumer outreach on using 

household goods movers, among other programs. 

STRS is one education and outreach program intended to help reduce the 

number of crashes involving large commercial vehicles. FMCSA assumed 

responsibility for the program in 2000, when Congress established FMCSA. 

STRS targeted all highway users and sought to modify driver behavior by 

increasing their awareness of the inherent dangers of driving in and around 

large commercial vehicles. STRS attempted to increase drivers’ awareness 

of these dangers through a variety of channels, such as publishing 

informational literature, developing material for driver’s education courses, 

and issuing public service announcements. Additionally, FMCSA partnered 

with public and private organizations nationwide to promote the STRS 

mission. One of these partners, the American Trucking Association, now 

operates its own independent Share the Road program that seeks to 

educate the public through outreach and media events held in cities across 

the nation.

In 2003, the House Report accompanying the DOT appropriations act asked 

GAO to evaluate the effectiveness of the STRS initiatives. Our report found 

that some STRS initiatives did not clearly link to the program’s goals, and 

that evaluations of the program did not fully measure its outcomes. Our 

review also noted that research shows that attempts to modify driver 

behavior are more effective when educational activities are combined with 

enforcement efforts. Subsequently, we recommended that DOT ensure that 
Page 10 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

STRS initiatives directly link with the program’s goals, and that DOT 

establish a systematic process for evaluating the effectiveness of the 

program. We also suggested that FMCSA could apply strategies used by 

other parts of DOT, such as NHTSA, to its evaluations of STRS. Such 

strategies include measuring targeted knowledge, attitude, and behavior 

changes before and after program exposure to assess change.

For fiscal years 2004 and 2005, Congress transferred funding for STRS from 

FMCSA to NHTSA, with FMCSA retaining a supporting role. In the 

Conference Report accompanying the DOT appropriations act for fiscal 

year 2004, the conferees asked NHTSA to work with FMCSA to educate the 

motoring public on how to share the road safely with commercial motor 

vehicles. The appropriation asked NHTSA and FMCSA to apply lessons 

learned from NHTSA’s experience in high-visibility law enforcement 

campaigns to STRS initiatives to educate drivers on how to drive safety 

around large trucks. NHTSA operates a number of programs intended to 

promote safe behavior by passenger-vehicle drivers. One such program is 

Click It or Ticket, which evaluations have shown to be effective at 

increasing safety belt use by combining extensive paid and earned media9

coverage and high-visibility law enforcement waves. Furthermore, the 

Conference Report accompanying the DOT appropriations act for fiscal 

year 2005 expressed the conferees’ view that FMCSA should assign a staff 

member to NHTSA to act as a liaison for STRS. FMCSA officials told us that 

the rationale for establishing this liaison position was to transfer 

knowledge to FMCSA on the operation of education and enforcement 

campaigns. 

NHTSA’s Click It or Ticket program is a high-visibility law enforcement 

campaign that is based on the STEP model. According to NHTSA officials, 

STEP is a model that the enforcement community uses to announce, 

usually through press releases, some increase in enforcement of some 

violation or identified problem area, such as not wearing a safety belt. Over 

time, this model has become more sophisticated to include more and better 

targeted media campaigns to announce enforcement. These media 

campaigns should include both extensive (1) earned media that include 

news coverage and (2) paid media, such as radio and television advertising, 

to explain the problem the program is trying to address and the stepped up 

enforcement. NHTSA officials refer to this more sophisticated version of a 

STEP model as a high-visibility law enforcement campaign.

9

“Earned media” is positive news coverage that is used to reach a large audience.
Page 11 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

During 2004 and 2005, 

the Share the Road 

Safely Program Funded 

a Reasonably Designed 

Education and 

Enforcement Pilot in 

Washington State

During 2004 and 2005, NHTSA funded the Share the Road Safely program 

and implemented an aggressive driving pilot initiative in Washington State. 

Known as Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT), it combined 

education and law enforcement activities in an effort to reduce aggressive 

driving between passenger vehicles and trucks. Another objective of the 

pilot was for NHTSA to show FMCSA staff how to operate similar 

initiatives in the future. TACT generally conformed to the proven highvisibility law enforcement model, although it dealt with more complex 

issues than previous high-visibility law enforcement campaigns. TACT’s 

design and implementation linked to the STRS goal of changing driver 

behavior, whereas past STRS initiatives sometimes did not link to goals or 

were not designed to maximize the potential for success. In addition, 

Congress requested FMCSA to use a liaison to facilitate the transfer of 

knowledge about high-visibility law enforcement campaigns from NHTSA 

to FMCSA. Lastly, educational initiatives that were a part of STRS in 2003 

were pursued by FMCSA, although not funded under NHTSA in 2004 and 

2005.

DOT Helped Establish and 

Operate an Aggressive 

Driving Pilot Initiative in 

Washington State

According to DOT officials, Share the Road Safely program funding has 

supported an aggressive driving pilot initiative in Washington State starting 

in 2004. In 2004, DOT selected Washington State for the pilot initiative and 

signed a cooperative agreement with the Washington Traffic Safety 

Commission. The pilot, known as TACT, combined high-visibility law 

enforcement waves with education and outreach activities in an effort to 

reduce aggressive driving between passenger-vehicle and large-truck 

drivers. TACT focused on four interstate highway corridors, each covering 

a distance of approximately 25 miles. (See fig. 2.) Two intervention 

corridors in the western part of the state received media messages and 2 

weeks of increased, high-visibility law enforcement waves in July and 

September, 2005, while two comparison corridors did not. During these 

waves, law enforcement officers patrolled the intervention corridors in 

marked and unmarked patrol cars, in state patrol aerial units when weather 

permitted, and from the cabs of semitrucks to target unsafe driving around 

large trucks. 
Page 12 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Figure 2: TACT Intervention and Comparison Corridors in Washington State

The TACT pilot initiative used paid radio advertising and earned media, 

such as local news coverage, to inform the targeted audience of the 

dangers of aggressive driving related to trucks and to announce that law 

enforcement officers would issue tickets for such behavior. TACT’s radio 

advertisement was aired over 6,000 times during the course of the 

enforcement waves, and eight local television stations dedicated coverage 

to the pilot. Figure 3 shows an example of the earned media coverage.

Vancouver

Longview

Olympia

Tacoma

Seattle

Everett

Bellingham

Spokane

90

5

Comparison corridors

Intervention corridors

Source: GAO depiction of NHTSA graphic.
Page 13 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Figure 3: Television News Coverage Used for TACT

DOT officials said they selected Washington State to participate in this pilot 

because of the state’s experience with other related safety initiatives, its 

accurate fatality and crash database, and its strong relationships with key 

stakeholders. TACT built upon a previous STEP model campaign, Step Up 

and R.I.D.E.,10 which operated in Washington for several years. In the Step 

Up and R.I.D.E. program, Washington partnered with the local trucking 

industry to periodically place police officers in commercial vehicles to 

identify and issue citations to drivers observed committing offenses. DOT 

officials also stated that Washington has shown itself capable of 

successfully implementing and evaluating a high-visibility law enforcement 

campaign—specifically its Click It or Ticket campaign, which in 2002 

increased safety belt use from about 80 percent to 95 percent. Additionally, 

DOT cited Washington as having good data on crashes and fatalities. In a 

2005 report, we also recognized that Washington has very good cooperation 

among state agencies involved in crash data collection and reporting, and a 

strong relationship with its FMCSA division office.11 Finally, according to 

DOT officials, a particular strength of Washington is that the Washington 

Traffic Safety Commission, the lead organization in implementing the TACT 

initiative, comprises multiple state agencies, including all of the agencies 

that are participating in TACT, thus setting the stage for easy coordination 

and cooperation among participating agencies. 

Sources: Washington Traffic Safety Commission and the KOMO television station.

10“R.I.D.E.” stands for Reduce Injuries through Driver Education.

11GAO, Highway Safety: Further Opportunities Exist to Improve Data on Crashes 

Involving Commercial Motor Vehicles, GAO-06-102 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 18, 2005). 
Page 14 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Federal, state, and local organizations participated in and contributed 

about $892,000 for the planning and operation of TACT. A steering 

committee led by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission planned and 

administered the pilot project. Other partners on the steering committee 

included the Washington DOT, the Washington State Patrol, the Association 

of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, and the Washington Trucking Association. 

Officials on the steering committee believed having all of these groups 

involved in developing the pilot was important to the successful 

implementation of the pilot. The Washington Traffic Safety Commission 

also contributed $118,000 to the pilot for project management and 

communications. Local and state police made officers available for the 

enforcement waves, and the Washington Trucking Association worked with 

trucking companies to provide decoy trucks and drivers. NHTSA provided 

considerable assistance in developing and implementing the initiative and 

supplied the majority of TACT’s funding, awarding $497,000 in fiscal year 

2004 and an additional $68,000 for evaluation activities in fiscal year 2005. 

Congress also provided NHTSA with an additional $99,000 for the TACT 

initiative in fiscal year 2005. FMCSA did TACT’s initial planning and 

provided ongoing assistance, including reviewing plans. It also provided 

$100,000 in fiscal year 2005 for TACT’s enforcement efforts through 

MCSAP.12

FMCSA Sought to Learn 

How to Operate a HighVisibility Law Enforcement 

Campaign

DOT officials told us that a goal for FMCSA in the TACT initiative was to 

gain institutional knowledge on the operation of high-visibility law 

enforcement campaigns, such as Click It or Ticket. These campaigns 

combine education and outreach activities with high-visibility law 

enforcement to bring about a change in driver behavior. Our 2003 report 

stated that highway safety experts agree that attempts to modify behavior 

are more effective when educational and enforcement efforts are used 

together. However, the STRS initiatives we identified in our 2003 report 

were purely educational.13 The report added that FMCSA could improve 

STRS by drawing from NHTSA’s considerable experience with highvisibility law enforcement campaigns like Click It or Ticket, which has been 

12MCSAP is a federal grant program that provides financial assistance to states to reduce the 

number and severity of accidents and hazardous materials incidents involving commercial 

motor vehicles. The goal of this program is to reduce commercial-vehicle accidents, 

fatalities, and injuries by investing grant monies in appropriate commercial-vehicle safety 

programs.

13GAO-03-680. 
Page 15 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

widely considered effective in increasing the rate of safety belt use. 

Furthermore, a NHTSA evaluation report found that 10 states that used the 

Click It or Ticket model had significantly greater increases in safety belt 

use compared with states that attempted to increase safety belt use 

through other initiatives. TACT offered FMCSA an opportunity to learn 

from NHTSA’s experience with high-visibility law enforcement campaigns 

and learn how to develop similar aggressive driving initiatives in other 

states. To further ensure this transfer of knowledge as requested by 

conferees in the Conference Report accompanying its 2005 appropriations 

act, FMCSA hired and detailed a staff member to NHTSA to act as a 

communications liaison for STRS. The liaison was involved in some facets 

of TACT, including meeting with its steering committee and preparing 

briefings on the pilot. According to DOT officials, however, the liaison 

came aboard after the completion of the last enforcement wave—later in 

this report, we discuss this matter further in relation to the future of STRS 

initiatives. 

Pilot Generally Conformed 

to the Proven High-Visibility 

Law Enforcement Campaign 

Model with Some Variation, 

but Dealt with More 

Complex Issues

Our analysis of TACT’s design and implementation shows that it generally 

conformed to the high-visibility law enforcement campaign model as 

intended, but varied in a few aspects. Specifically, TACT was modeled after 

NHTSA’s Click It or Ticket campaign. In modeling Click It or Ticket’s 

approach, officials in the TACT program collected data before and after its 

enforcement waves to identify behavior changes; it had highly visible 

enforcement on each day of its enforcement waves; and it had used both 

paid and earned media to publicize its enforcement. 

TACT did deviate from the Click It or Ticket model in two ways. First, the 

pilot did not use paid television advertising. Washington State officials 

explained that this was because of the program’s limited budget. While 

evaluations of Click It or Ticket show that radio advertisements were 

effective in reaching the motoring public, radio is not as effective a medium 

as television. Second, the media for the TACT pilot described the 

enforcement campaign as zero tolerance as prescribed by the Click It or 

Ticket model, and enforcement was stepped up; however, law enforcement 

officers participating in TACT issued warnings instead of citations in 28 

percent of the traffic stops. NHTSA officials explained that law 

enforcement officers always have discretion on whether to issue citations, 

and what is more important is that the public perceive an increase in law 

enforcement. Furthermore, they explained there is no research about the 

most effective level of citation tickets. See appendix II for a detailed 

comparison of TACT’s implementation of the Click It or Ticket model. 
Page 16 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Although TACT is based on the high-visibility law enforcement campaign 

model, it deals with more complex issues than previous initiatives. In the 

case of Click It or Ticket, law enforcement is simply checking for safety 

belt use. With TACT, there are a number of behaviors that may constitute 

aggressive driving, including tailgating, speeding, and unsafe merging. 

These multiple factors also made it more difficult to develop a primary 

message for TACT to communicate to the public. TACT administrators, for 

example, determined that they had to choose a primary behavioral theme—

leaving more space around trucks—to communicate to motorists, although 

obeying the speed limit and staying out of a truck’s blind spots also are 

important and were secondary themes. See figure 4 for a depiction of 

TACT’s selected message. This message was posted on 16 highway signs in 

the intervention corridors. Additionally, TACT was more difficult to 

institute from a legal standpoint. Washington has a primary safety belt law, 

meaning that officers can pull over drivers solely for not wearing their 

safety belts. In the case of TACT, however, Washington has no single 

aggressive driving law. Washington State officials told us they had to ensure 

that courts would be willing to enforce the tickets because police officers 

issued citations for violations under a number of laws. 

Figure 4: TACT Highway Sign

Source: Washington Traffic Safety Commission.
Page 17 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Previous STRS Initiatives 

Were Not Funded under 

NHTSA

In fiscal years 2004 and 2005, STRS did not fund initiatives that were a part 

of the program in 2003. All STRS funds in fiscal years 2004 and 2005 were 

directed to the TACT pilot. According to FMCSA officials, however, they 

continued to disseminate education and outreach materials. For instance, 

the No-Zone campaign—a major initiative of STRS—was not funded during 

this period.14 FMCSA did, however, keep No-Zone information available on 

its Web site and responded to requests for educational material. For 

example, according to FMCSA officials, during this period they distributed 

over 200,000 copies of the No-Zone brochure through venues such as 

conferences and industry events. Also prior to TACT, FMCSA developed a 

curriculum for teaching students about sharing the road with trucks. 

FMCSA completed work on the curriculum and produced a video for the 

course, and it distributed the materials during fiscal years 2004 and 2005, 

including 1,500 copies of the video. 

Evaluation of TACT 

Demonstrated Positive 

Results and Was 

Generally WellDesigned

DOT and Washington State officials conducted an evaluation of TACT that 

demonstrated the initiative’s success and was generally well-designed. 

Specifically, analysis of videotaped driver behavior showed reductions in 

aggressive driving, and targeted motorists reported significant exposure to 

the initiative’s message. Additionally, the evaluation followed accepted 

experimental design principles by comparing changes on two intervention 

highway corridors, which were exposed to the initiative’s message and 

enforcement, with changes on two comparison highway corridors, which 

were not exposed to the message. This experimental setup enabled 

program administrators to attribute positive changes in driver behavior to 

TACT initiatives. The evaluation did not assess changes in crashes, but 

increased driver awareness and improved driver behavior should logically 

lead to reduced crashes, injuries, and fatalities. Also, TACT’s design of 

combining education outreach with law enforcement better lent itself to 

reaching STRS goals than previous initiatives that were purely educational. 

TACT Improved Driver 

Behavior and Public 

Awareness

The TACT evaluation demonstrated that the initiative was able to produce 

improvements in driver behavior. TACT evaluated changes in driver 

behavior by recording video footage of drivers in the four corridors and 

using three groups of reviewers—police officers, truck drivers, and 

14The No-Zone campaign was intended to educate passenger car drivers to keep out of 

trucks’ blind spots. 
Page 18 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Washington Traffic Safety Commission staff—to rate the seriousness of any 

unsafe driving acts. (See app. III for a more detailed explanation of how 

this video footage was analyzed.) This analysis found that the rate of unsafe 

driving acts per observation hour was nearly cut in half, from 5.80 to 3.05, 

for the intervention corridors, as compared with a slight decrease, from 

4.03 to 3.92, for the comparison corridor. When controlled for the

preenforcement rates, these data represent a 46 percent decrease in unsafe 

driving in the intervention corridors. The comparison corridors also had 

1.85 times as many violations per hour than the intervention corridors 

when the data are controlled for the corridors’ respective violation rates 

prior to enforcement. (Fig. 5 shows the rate of violations per observation 

hour.) Also, analysis of driver behavior in the intervention corridors found 

that crash risk decreased and driver behavior was less illegal and less 

intimidating, among other things. 

Figure 5: Rate of Violations per Observation Hour

Corridor type

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Post-TACT initiative

Pre-TACT initiative

Intervention Comparison

Violations per hour of video

Sources: Washington Traffic Safety Commission and NHTSA.
Page 19 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

The TACT initiative improved driver behavior by successfully reaching its 

intended audience. TACT evaluators demonstrated this by using a survey to 

measure the extent to which the initiative changed the awareness of the 

target audience. In each of the four communities selected for the project, 

TACT administrators distributed surveys to the public at driver licensing 

offices both before and after the enforcement waves. For example, the 

percentage of respondents on the intervention corridors that reported 

general exposure to media about giving trucks more space nearly 

quadrupled, from about 18 to 67 percent. These data contrast with data for 

the comparison corridors, where the percentage only increased from about 

17 to 20 percent. (Fig. 6 shows the percentages of respondents that 

reported hearing or seeing TACT-related media outreach.) Additionally, the 

evaluation found significant increases in the percentages of respondents on 

the intervention corridors that specifically reported hearing the radio 

message and seeing the TACT road sign, television, and newspaper 

messages. Furthermore, surveys of drivers also showed a significant 

increase in drivers reporting that they leave more space when passing 

trucks (the intended behavioral change theme of the project) from about 16 

to 24 percent for the intervention corridors as compared with a slight 

increase from about 15 to 16 percent for the comparison corridors. 
Page 20 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Figure 6: Percentages of Survey Respondents That Saw or Heard Media about 

Giving Trucks More Space

The Evaluation of TACT 

Was Generally WellDesigned and Links Results 

to Its Intended Goal of 

Crash Reduction

We found that the evaluation of TACT was generally well-designed, since it 

appropriately used an experimental design to attribute outcomes to TACT’s 

initiatives. An experimental design permits researchers to attribute 

outcomes to the effects of the program and rule out other influences. Often 

with this kind of evaluation design, the participants in the intervention 

group are exposed to the initiative, while similar participants in the 

comparison group are unexposed. Aside from the initiative, participants 

experience the same influences. That is, they face conditions that are alike 

during the same period. More specifically, the evaluation of the TACT 

initiative exposed drivers in the intervention corridors to paid and earned 

media and high-visibility law enforcement waves, while simultaneously 

leaving unexposed comparable drivers in similar comparison corridors. 

Then the evaluation compared outcomes in the two groups. This procedure 

was repeated in two additional corridors to make sure that any detected 

differences in outcomes were not unique to the first two corridors. Our 

Corridor type

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Post-TACT initiative

Pre-TACT initiative

Intervention Comparison

Percentage of respondents who saw or heard media

Sources: Washington Traffic Safety Commission and NHTSA.
Page 21 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

2003 review of STRS recommended that DOT establish a systematic 

process for evaluating the effectiveness of the program. Therefore, the 

evaluation of TACT’s methodology represents a positive step toward 

meeting our 2003 recommendation.

The evaluation report concludes that the initiative was a success, but it did 

not report on TACT’s effect on the long-term results of the initiative, such 

as the impact on the number of crashes, despite earlier plans to do so. Both 

TACT implementation plans and a NHTSA official stated that the evaluation 

would assess the impact of the initiative on the number of crashes in the 

intervention corridors. However, as the evaluation report states, it is 

difficult to determine changes in crashes given the low number of crashes 

in Washington State; therefore, intermediate measures for evaluating the 

initiative had to be relied upon. NHTSA officials stated that although the 

evaluation was unable to report on long-term results, the program’s finding 

of improved driver behavior around trucks would logically indicate an 

expected decrease in truck-related crashes, injuries, and fatalities. 

Furthermore, NHTSA does not evaluate individual Click It or Ticket 

campaigns, which are considered to successfully modify behavior, for their 

effect on long-term results such as fatality reduction.15 Figure 7 shows how 

TACT linked short-term results (such as awareness and knowledge of the 

dangers of driving around trucks) and intermediate results (such as 

changed driver behavior around trucks) to the long-term results of fewer 

truck-related crashes, injuries, and fatalities.

15NHTSA has conducted research illustrating that manual, 3-point safety belts reduce the 

fatality risk of front-seat occupants of passenger vehicles by 45 percent, relative to an 

unrestrained occupant. 
Page 22 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Figure 7: Expected Program Model Logic Results of TACT Initiative

TACT Is Better Designed to 

Successfully Reach Agency 

Goals Than Past STRS 

Initiatives

The design of TACT provided a better opportunity for successfully reaching 

desired results and goals than past STRS initiatives. Our 2003 report on 

STRS found that some of FMCSA’s education and outreach initiatives were 

not directly connected to agency goals and recommended that future 

initiatives be so connected. While program initiatives that exclusively rely 

on education and outreach, such as distributing informational pamphlets or 

advertising, can increase awareness and encourage the intended behaviors, 

thereby linking to a program’s goals, attempts to modify the behaviors of 

drivers are more effective when educational initiatives are combined with 

enforcement. This conclusion is supported by the evaluation of past 

initiatives to change driver behavior, particularly of efforts to increase 

safety belt use.16 For example, a 2002 study by NHTSA included data from 

Texas, which showed that while the baseline percentage of individuals 

wearing safety belts (80 percent) increased slightly with advertising alone, 

the combination of advertising and enforcement caused the number to 

increase another 6 percent. TACT’s use of media, road signs, and other 

Initiative

Short-term 

results

Intermediate 

results

Long-term 

results

TACT Motorists learn of the 

dangers of aggressive 

driving around trucks

and the potential to 

receive a ticket for 

noncompliance

Motorists drive 

more carefully and 

less aggressively 

around trucks

Reduction in crashes, 

injuries, and fatalities

Awareness, knowledge, 

and attitudes

Behavior, practice, 

and policies

Conditions

Source: GAO analysis of Program Logic Model and TACT design and evaluation plans. Model adapted from Ellen Taylor-Powell,

The Logic Model: A Program Performance Framework (University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension: Madison, WI).

16GAO, Highway Safety: Effectiveness of State .08 Blood Alcohol Laws, GAO/RCED-99-179

(Washington, D.C.: June 23, 1999); and Motor Vehicle Safety: Comprehensive State 

Programs Offer Best Opportunity for Increasing Use of Safety Belts, GAO/RCED-96-24

(Washington, D.C.: Jan. 3, 1996). See also Lund, Adrian K. and Allan F. Williams, A Review of 

the Literature Evaluating the Defensive Driving Course, Accident Analysis and Prevention 

17:6 (1985); Carolyn B. Liban et al., The Canadian Drinking-Driving Countermeasure 

Experience, Accident Analysis and Prevention 19:3 (1987); and James B. Jacobs, Drunk 

Driving, An American Dilemma (Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1989).
Page 23 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

educational outreach tools therefore directly linked to the STRS goal of 

decreasing unsafe driver behavior around commercial vehicles by truck 

drivers and passenger-vehicle drivers, and incorporating high-visibility law 

enforcement increased the initiative’s potential for successfully reaching 

that goal. In effect, TACT represents a positive step toward meeting our 

2003 recommendation that STRS initiatives clearly link to STRS goals.

FMCSA Plans 

Expanded 

Development of HighVisibility Law 

Enforcement 

Campaigns Similar to 

TACT, but Lacks a 

Clear Strategy and 

Expertise 

Following the success of TACT in Washington State, FMCSA is developing 

plans encouraging states to adopt similar initiatives in other states; 

however, its strategy for expanding TACT and its ability to manage these 

initiatives remain unknown. FMCSA officials stated that they plan a 

nationwide rollout of initiatives similar to TACT by 2009, and that in the 

interim, they are currently developing another TACT pilot in Pennsylvania. 

FMCSA, however, has yet to articulate a strategy for expanding TACT into a 

nationwide program or to identify funding. Additionally, FMCSA’s ability to 

administer future TACT initiatives is uncertain, since FMCSA has limited 

experience with high-visibility law enforcement campaigns. Finally, 

FMCSA plans to spend the majority of its STRS funds on initiatives that are 

purely educational, even though little information is available to show that 

these activities will improve driver behavior and contribute to reducing 

fatalities.

FMCSA Plans to Implement 

More TACT-Like Initiatives 

but Has Yet to Articulate Its 

Strategy

FMCSA plans to expand initiatives similar to TACT to new states and, 

eventually, nationwide. FMCSA officials stated that they plan to issue a 

Federal Register notice in fiscal year 2008 before rolling out TACT on a 

nationwide basis in 2009. In the interim, FMCSA is currently developing 

plans to implement another TACT pilot in Pennsylvania, using primarily 

MCSAP grants and state funds. There, FMCSA will contract with the 

Pennsylvania State Police to develop and operate a high-visibility law 

enforcement campaign in at least two intervention corridors and two 

comparison corridors in an area with a high concentration of commercialvehicle fatalities and crashes. Pennsylvania will also be responsible for 

evaluating its pilot. Agency officials anticipate this pilot taking 18 months 

to complete. FMCSA also plans to conduct two additional pilots in fiscal
Page 24 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

year 2007, but has not yet identified states.17 Additionally, FMCSA issued a 

Federal Register notice in March 2006 stating that states could use MCSAP 

High Priority grants18 to comply with provisions of SAFETEA-LU that 

require states to conduct comprehensive and highly visible traffic 

enforcement and commercial-vehicle safety inspection programs in highrisk locations and areas. FMCSA added that these initiatives could be 

similar to TACT. 

FMCSA officials stated that they will develop guidance for states to follow, 

but gaps remain in their strategy for expanding TACT nationwide. Agency 

documents state that the Washington State TACT pilot and the future 

Pennsylvania initiative will form the foundation of a best practices guide to 

share with states. However, FMCSA has yet to articulate how it will expand 

TACT from several planned pilot initiatives in 2007 to a nationwide 

program 2 years later, or how this expansion will be funded. Additionally, 

although FMCSA enabled states to apply for MCSAP High Priority grants to 

develop initiatives similar to TACT, FMCSA did not provide states with the 

guidance to do so. Applications for these funds were due before the 

Washington TACT evaluation report was published; therefore, states 

seeking to begin similar initiatives needed to design their own initiatives 

without the benefit of Washington’s experience. Finally, FMCSA officials 

stated that no state applied for a fiscal year 2006 grant before the 

application deadline in the Federal Register; however, FMCSA will accept 

applications until the end of fiscal year 2006 or until the available funds are 

awarded.

Although FMCSA has plans for a nationwide expansion of TACT, the 

majority of FMCSA’s STRS funds will be spent on other activities. Program 

planning documents state that FMCSA has decided to transition STRS to 

focus on developing initiatives similar to TACT in other states, but FMCSA 

17FMCSA has since informed us that Kentucky and Florida have expressed interest in 

conducting additional pilots similar to TACT. FMCSA officials told us that they have 

contacted these states, but the officials did not indicate if theses states will conduct TACTlike initiatives. 

18FMCSA generally provides MCSAP High Priority grants to support, enrich, or evaluate 

state commercial motor vehicle safety programs and to accomplish the following five 

objectives: (1) implement, promote, and maintain national programs to improve commercial 

motor vehicle safety, (2) increase compliance with commercial motor vehicle safety 

regulations, (3) increase public awareness concerning commercial motor vehicle safety, (4) 

provide education on commercial motor vehicle safety and related issues, and (5) 

demonstrate new safety-related technologies.
Page 25 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

plans to invest just $150,000 of its $500,000 fiscal year 2006 STRS budget to 

do this.19 FMCSA officials told us that STRS funds would pay for the 

evaluation component of this initiative, and FMCSA will supplement 

activities with MCSAP funds. The $150,000 fiscal year 2006 STRS 

investment in these future initiatives is significantly less than the 

approximately $664,000 in STRS funds provided solely to TACT in fiscal 

years 2004 and 2005. 

FMCSA’s Ability to Manage 

Future Initiatives Is Unclear 

and NHTSA’s Role Is Still 

Evolving

FMCSA’s ability to administer future high-visibility law enforcement 

campaigns and NHTSA’s role in future STRS initiatives are unclear. As we 

previously mentioned, a goal of the TACT pilot was for FMCSA to learn 

about the operation of high-visibility enforcement programs from NHTSA, 

and to support this goal, FMCSA detailed a liaison to NHTSA following 

congressional direction. FMCSA, however, missed valuable opportunities 

for learning because of the time it took to fill the position, since the liaison 

came aboard late in the TACT program and returned to FMCSA before 

NHTSA conducted its annual Click It or Ticket enforcement campaign.20

After discussing our findings with FMCSA officials, they clarified that other 

FMCSA staff participated in TACT and knowledge transfer was not limited 

to the liaison.

Furthermore, NHTSA’s participation in future STRS activities is still 

evolving. As we previously mentioned, SAFETEA-LU authorized $3 million 

to NHTSA and $1 million annually to FMCSA for administering education 

and outreach activities associated with commercial-vehicle safety for the 4-

year period from 2006 through 2009. However, the Conference Report 

accompanying the DOT appropriations act for fiscal year 2006 indicates 

that the conferees did not fund the amounts authorized. Instead, they 

funded $4 million to FMCSA alone for these purposes. Given its limited 

experiences with programs designed to modify driver behavior, however, 

FMCSA’s plans call for continuing cooperation with NHTSA in future

19Consistent with language in the Conference Report accompanying the DOT appropriations 

act for fiscal year 2006, FMCSA plans to spend $500,000 on STRS. Conferees expected that 

at least $500,000 would be spent on the Share the Road Safely program.

20Initially, a NHTSA official working with this liaison stated that the liaison did not spend 

sufficient time at NHTSA and should have stayed longer to gain more exposure to Click It or 

Ticket. Later, however, FMCSA officials told us that the liaison would be attending NHTSA’s 

planning meetings leading up to the annual Click It or Ticket campaign.
Page 26 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

aggressive driving programs. For example, staff in FMCSA’s Washington 

Divisional Office told us that their agency lacks NHTSA’s experience with 

initiatives that change driver behavior and does not have staff with a 

background in the area, especially at the division office level. This is 

important because TACT’s evaluation report states that having an 

experienced evaluation team that can develop and implement a 

comprehensive evaluation design was critical to the success of the project. 

As we previously mentioned, NHTSA has experience in operating 

successful campaigns to increase safe behavior by motorists. Additionally, 

FMCSA has only a small number of staff dedicated to its education and 

outreach programs. NHTSA staff with whom we spoke initially stated that 

the agency’s involvement will end with the issuance of the TACT program 

evaluation report. Currently, however, NHTSA staff said they will provide 

FMCSA with general assistance, and FMCSA has formed a transition team 

to help ensure that the necessary expertise will be available to future 

initiatives. NHTSA officials added that specific experience with behavioral 

issues is not required to replicate the TACT initiative. They said that a 

program plan, a media plan, an enforcement plan, and an evaluation plan 

are required.

FMCSA’s Short-term Plans 

Focus on Initiatives That Do 

Not Include Enforcement 

and That Have Not Been 

Shown to Be Effective

FMCSA plans to spend the majority of its 2006 STRS funds on updating the 

STRS Web site and producing outreach materials. These funds will be spent 

on initiatives that have limited potential for reducing fatalities and provide 

limited opportunities for evaluation, representing a return to an earlier era 

of STRS. FMCSA will spend $200,000 in updating its Web site, $100,000 on 

education and outreach materials promoting sharing the road, and $50,000 

on printing. FMCSA plans to update its Web site with information on 

preventing aggressive driving, which will include Spanish-language 

content. The Web site also will include a user survey to gauge satisfaction 

and will be able to ask up to five questions about a user’s knowledge of 

STRS initiatives. Currently, FMCSA can only collect information on the 

number of visits to the Web site. In addition, FMCSA plans to distribute 

education and outreach materials promoting sharing the road. These 

initiatives were not financially supported during fiscal years 2004 and 2005, 

when NHTSA had responsibility for STRS. As we previously stated, purely 

educational initiatives may conceptually link to FMCSA’s goal of reducing 

accidents and fatalities, but initiatives such as TACT have a better potential 

to improve driver behavior by incorporating local enforcement efforts with 

educational outreach. Figure 8 shows four categories of FMCSA’s planned 

STRS spending in fiscal year 2006. Table 1 lists FMCSA’s planned outreach 

activities within two of these categories. 
Page 27 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Figure 8: Planned STRS Funding for Fiscal Year 2006

Source: GAO analysis of FMCSA documents.

Total $500,000

Outreach materials (brochures, posters)

($100,000)

Assist states with implementing new

TACT-like programs

($150,000)

Printing costs

($50,000)

STRS Web-site enhancements

($200,000)

10%

30%

20%

40%

Strictly educational
Page 28 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Table 1: Planned STRS Outreach Activities for Fiscal Year 2006

Source: GAO analysis of FMCSA documents.

It is unclear if evaluations of these planned STRS education and outreach 

activities will provide meaningful insight into their effectiveness. FMCSA 

officials told us that they hired a contractor to develop evaluations of STRS 

education and outreach activities, but plans to evaluate the impact of these 

activities on fatality and injury rates have yet to be developed. This 

contractor will be required to (1) develop an evaluation study that gathers 

baseline data and (2) assess whether the education and outreach materials 

and activities reached the intended audience, changed attitudes and 

behaviors, and helped the program meet its safety goals. However, in 

discussing these plans, a NHTSA official told us that it will be difficult to 

measure the impact of educational materials on driver behavior. 

Furthermore, in our 2003 report, we stated that previous evaluations of 

STRS activities shed little light on their short-term, intermediate, and longterm outcomes. This was due, in part, to FMCSA’s heavy reliance on selfreported data and to FMCSA’s not establishing a baseline of driver behavior 

STRS initiatives Activities 

Web site enhancements Incorporate information on Washington State TACT into the 

Web site, including radio advertisements.

Develop and post press releases, radio scripts, and radio 

public service announcements that states can use to raise 

awareness about driving safely near trucks.

Implement a customer satisfaction survey on the STRS 

Web site.

Update the No-Zone Web page.

Outreach materials Revise and distribute the brochures entitled the 

Professional Driver (for truck drivers) and the Smart Driver

(for car drivers). Place Spanish versions on the STRS Web 

site.

Develop a script for a public service announcement that 

states can use to support TACT communication efforts.

Distribute STRS radio spots to be aired in the 10 states with 

the highest truck crash, injury, and fatality rates.

Update and disseminate model training curriculum for 

teaching students about sharing the road with commercial 

motor vehicles.

Update No-Zone campaign materials.
Page 29 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

and knowledge before the program started. By contrast, TACT’s evaluation 

visually assessed driver behavior before and after motorists received 

education and enforcement. If FMCSA cannot evaluate the effect of these 

activities on driver behavior, then the planned activities may represent a 

return to the practices that we questioned in our 2003 report. 

Conclusions The TACT initiative represented a significant departure from previous 

STRS initiatives and, by following the high-visibility law enforcement 

campaign model, incorporated program elements that experts believe are 

most effective in changing driver behavior. Its systematic evaluation and 

clear link to agency goals were important steps toward addressing 

concerns with STRS that we raised in the past. Furthermore, the positive 

results shown by the TACT evaluation and the ongoing problem of crashes 

between trucks and passenger vehicles demonstrate that there is merit in 

further developing and implementing high-visibility law enforcement 

campaigns similar to TACT. FMCSA’s plans for future aggressive driving 

initiatives are still evolving, but the agency is currently developing a second 

pilot in Pennsylvania and has a goal of rolling out TACT-like initiatives 

nationwide in 2009. However, FMCSA has yet to develop a clear strategy 

describing how it will expand initiatives similar to TACT from a series of 

pilots into a nationwide program or to describe how these programs will be 

funded. 

Furthermore, some of FMCSA’s plans for addressing unsafe driving do not 

focus on expanding education and enforcement initiatives such as TACT. 

Instead, FMCSA has chosen to spend the majority of its fiscal year 2006 

STRS funds on initiatives that are purely educational, which safety experts 

agree are less effective than when educational outreach is combined with 

enforcement. Because FMCSA has not identified a cohesive strategy to 

expand TACT and not focused on proven approaches such as high-visibility 

law enforcement campaigns, it is unclear how FMCSA’s STRS initiatives 

will contribute to FMCSA’s goal of expanding TACT and reducing crashes 

and fatalities. 

Finally, there are doubts about FMCSA’s ability to ensure the success of 

STRS in the future. Although funding responsibility for STRS returned to 

FMCSA in 2006 and FMCSA participated in the initial planning for TACT, 

NHTSA and the Washington Traffic Safety Commission significantly 

supported TACT’s implementation and evaluation. Additionally, FMCSA 

may have missed valuable opportunities to learn about the operation of 

TACT and other similar programs because its involvement was limited by 
Page 30 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

not being able to use its legislatively mandated liaison to the fullest extent 

possible. DOT, through staff from both NHTSA and FMCSA, demonstrated 

that it has the ability to develop state initiatives that change driver behavior 

around trucks by successfully implementing TACT. Even so, it is uncertain 

that DOT will effectively use these resources in the future, given that the 

relationship between NHTSA and FMCSA is still evolving and that FMCSA 

has limited staff and experience in administering high-visibility law 

enforcement campaigns.

Recommendations for 

Executive Action

To ensure that the Share the Road Safely program continues to improve 

driver behavior around commercial vehicles, thereby potentially reducing 

fatalities, we recommend that the Secretary of Transportation direct the 

Administrators of the appropriate agencies to take the following three 

steps:

• develop a comprehensive strategy describing how FMCSA will 

implement and fund an expansion of TACT-like initiatives from several 

pilots into a nationwide program and detail how STRS initiatives 

contribute to this goal;

• complete and execute plans to evaluate STRS outreach activities that 

are purely educational and discontinue activities with no demonstrable 

impact on behavior; and

• monitor whether FMCSA has sufficient staff and expertise to 

successfully develop and administer future high-visibility law 

enforcement campaigns, and, if it does not, determine the best methods 

for DOT to use its resources and expertise to modify driver behavior and 

address the problem of aggressive driving around trucks.

Agency Comments We provided DOT with a draft of this report for review and comment. DOT 

officials, including FMCSA's Outreach Division Chief and NHTSA's 

Behavioral Technology Research Chief, provided oral and written 

comments and generally agreed with our recommendations. These FMCSA 

and NHTSA officials clarified FMCSA’s role in developing initial plans for 

an education and enforcement project after we issued our 2003 report and 

before Congress provided NHTSA with Share the Road Safely funding. 

FMCSA officials also provided additional information on, and 

documentation of, a contract to develop an evaluation of FMCSA’s 
Page 31 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

education and outreach programs, including Share the Road Safely 

educational initiatives. Finally, the officials provided information on a team 

of FMCSA and NHTSA staff established in May 2006 to assist FMCSA with 

the expansion of TACT as fiscal responsibility for STRS transitions from 

NHTSA to FMCSA. We incorporated this information as well as technical 

comments throughout the report as appropriate. 

We will send copies of this report to interested congressional committees, 

the Secretary of Transportation, and other interested parties. We will also 

make copies available to others upon request. In addition, the report will be 

available at no charge on GAO’s Web site at http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staffs have any questions about this report, please contact 

me at (202) 512-2834 or siggerudk@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices 

of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last 

page of this report. Key contributors to this report are listed in appendix IV.

Katherine Siggerud

Director, Physical Infrastructure
Page 32 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Appendix I

Scope And Methodology AAppenednxidexiIs

To address our first objective and describe what the Department of 

Transportation (DOT) has done with the Share the Road Safely (STRS) 

program since 2003, we interviewed DOT officials to determine the 

changes made in the program since May 2003. Additionally, we interviewed 

officials from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), 

the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the 

Washington State Traffic Safety Commission to report on the 

implementation and administration of Washington State’s Ticketing 

Aggressive Cars and Trucks (TACT) pilot project. To determine whether the 

design of TACT was reasonable, we reviewed TACT programming 

documentation to determine if the design of the program links program 

initiatives to goals and if the design follows the high-visibility law 

enforcement campaign model for behavior change. We did not assess the 

design of other STRS initiatives because they were not actively funded in 

fiscal years 2004 and 2005, and because we reported on these activities in 

our 2003 report.1

 

To address our second objective—to determine what DOT evaluations have 

shown and whether the methods were acceptable—we reviewed 

evaluation results and analyzed evaluation plans to determine if short-term, 

intermediate, and long-term outcomes were measured and if external 

factors were considered and controlled for in the assessment. We reviewed 

and summarized the results of the Washington State pilot evaluation and 

determined if program initiatives linked to agency goals. In addition, we 

reviewed the evaluation results to determine if the evaluation illustrates 

that the pilot met its criteria for success. Due to the nature of the TACT 

program, we could not determine in this report whether the Share the Road 

Safely program achieved reductions in the number of deaths and severity of 

injuries as requested by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient 

Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). Specifically, 

SAFETEA-LU asked us to update our prior evaluation of STRS to determine 

if the program has achieved reductions in the number and severity of 

commercial-vehicle crashes, including reductions in the number of deaths 

and the severity of injuries sustained in these crashes. NHTSA officials, 

however, told us that the evaluation did not assess these long-term results 

because the numbers of injuries and fatalities on the pilot’s intervention 

corridors were too low to reliably measure any appreciable change. 

1

GAO, Truck Safety: Share the Road Safely Program Needs Better Evaluation of Its 

Initiatives, GAO-03-680 (Washington, D.C.: May 30, 2003).
Appendix I

Scope And Methodology

Page 33 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Therefore, we did not discuss in this report the program’s impact on 

specific numbers of fatalities and injuries. 

To assess DOT’s plans for the future of STRS, we interviewed program 

administrators at DOT and reviewed relevant budget and planning 

documents to determine DOT’s direction for STRS. We interviewed the 

FMCSA staff member assigned to transfer knowledge about administering 

high-visibility law enforcement campaigns from NHTSA to FMCSA to 

assess the staff member’s ability to accomplish this task. We also compared 

the design of future FMCSA initiatives with findings we listed in previous 

reports on programs designed to modify driver behavior and increase a 

program’s effectiveness at reducing crashes, injuries, and fatalities 

associated with commercial vehicles. 

We conducted our review from October 2005 through July 2006 in 

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
Page 34 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Appendix II

TACT’s Implementation of the Click It or 

Ticket Model ApendxiI

Source: GAO analysis of DOT documents.

Legend:

✔= Followed Click It or Ticket criteria

X = Did not follow Click It or Ticket criteria

a

Advertisements coincided with rush-hour, but television advertisement was not used.

b

Warnings were issued to about 28 percent of all violators.

Category Click It or Ticket criteria TACT implementation

Overall Data collection, before, during, and immediately after media and enforcement phases. ✔

Earned and paid publicity announcing strict enforcement. ✔

Highly visible enforcement each day of enforcement period. ✔

Planning Analysis of crash locations in determining the need for improvement and for targeting 

efforts.

✔

Areas should be defined so that residents have a sense of belonging to a community. ✔

Enforcement agencies should partner with local government, public service 

organizations, the media, and businesses to generate overwhelming program 

intensity.

✔

Maximum involvement among the state, county, and local enforcement agencies 

serving the community.

✔

Areas should try to include as large a percentage of the population as resources 

permit. 

✔

Up-front commitment to the program is needed from top management in each 

participating enforcement agency.

✔

Officer training should be conducted. ✔

A high-level enforcement official should take the lead in carrying the message to the 

public.

✔

Organizers must have the full support of elected officials. ✔

The program should be coordinated with the courts, since their caseloads will be 

affected directly by the number of citations issued.

✔

Publicity Enforcement messages repeated over and over during the publicity period. ✔

Continual use of earned media. ✔

Paid advertisement campaigns. ✔

Radio advertisements timed to run during drive times. Television advertisements are 

run at times when most viewers are present.a

X

Enforcement Enforcement campaigns usually last 2 weeks. During this period, zero-tolerance 

enforcement is carried out.b

X

Enforcement visible for entire enforcement period. ✔
Page 35 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Appendix III

Description of TACT Methodology for 

Analyzing Video Footage of Driver Behavior ApendxiI

To determine whether driver behavior changed, TACT administrators 

measured the incidence and rates of unsafe driver behavior in the vicinity 

of commercial vehicles. Washington State Police troopers collected these 

data by videotaping traffic from unmarked cars. Troopers drove behind 

commercial vehicles and provided narration indicating the type of behavior 

observed each time an unsafe act was seen. Unsafe behaviors included 

making unsafe lane changes, cutting in front of a truck, following another 

vehicle too closely, engaging in unsafe merging, and speeding. Troopers 

also provided narration detailing whether they would issue citations for 

driving violations. Later, 99 video clips were randomly selected and shown 

to three sets of reviewers consisting of police officers, truck drivers, and 

Washington Traffic Safety Commission employees. Reviewers filled out a 

score sheet for each video clip indicating how dangerous they believed the 

driver behavior was and whether it deserved a citation. Evaluators 

quantified these responses to generate a score indicating the seriousness of 

the unsafe driving act.
Page 36 GAO-06-916 Truck Safety

Appendix IV

Staff Acknowledgments ApendxiIV

GAO Contact Katherine Siggerud, (202) 512-2834, siggerudk@gao.gov

Staff 

Acknowledgments

Catherine Colwell, Assistant Director, and Samer Abbas, Analyst-in-Charge, 

managed this assignment and made significant contributions to all aspects 

of the work. Daniel Concepcion also made significant contributions to all 

aspects of this report. In addition, Joel Grossman assisted in our 

assessment of the TACT initiative’s design and evaluation. Tamera Dorland 

provided writing assistance, Bert Japikse provided legal support, and 

Joshua Ormond and Theresa Perkins assisted with graphics.

(542072)
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