As a result of decades of public policy efforts, people began to buckle up in the 1980s, making it the greatest successful social transformation of the last century.

How did this transformation happen?

With public service announcements, newspaper commercials, and even a push from car manufacturers to make automatic seatbelts, the government has been trying to convince people to buckle up for years.

Despite this, no one was interested in paying attention, as the general public is generally opposed to being told what to do by the government.

Because of this, authorities came up with an innovative solution to the problem: mandate seatbelts for very young children, this was universally embraced.

After the children were buckled, they started asking their parents why they didn’t buckle up.

The 3-5-year-old population became the greatest campaigning group for adults to wear seatbelts, making it impossible to ignore.

Buckled-up kids led to buckled-up parents.

By reframing the problem as one that pertains to children rather than adults, it has been easier for children to convince their parents to always fasten their seatbelts than the government could.

Reframing a problem can have a profound effect on the outcome.