Unbelted Occupants
Type of Problem Being Addressed
General Description of the Problem
A 2003 survey conducted by the NHTSA shows that occupant restraint use has continued to improve across almost all classes of vehicle occupants (see Exhibit III-1).
Exhibit III-1
Percent Restraint Use by Year, Age, Sex, Race, and Urbanization (Estimates and Sampling Standard Errors)
| Catagory | Year | ||||
| 1994 | 1996 | 1998 | 2000 | 2002* | |
| Age | |||||
| Infant | 88 (2.0) | 85 (7.3) | 97 (5.2) | 95 (2.9) | 99 |
| Toddler | 61 (5.1) | 60 (7.5) | 91 (4.0) | 91 (3.7) | 94 |
| Youth | 58 (3.6) | 65 (3.8) | 72 (4.9) | 66 (7.4) | 82 (2.4) |
| Young Adult | 53 (2.8) | 50 (4.0) | 57 (2.5) | 69 (3.5) | 69 (1.9) |
| Adult | 59 (2.2)** | 62 (1.8) | 70 (1.4) | 72 (3.0) | 76 (1.7) |
| Senior | 59 (2.2)** | 69 (3.3) | 77 (3.0) | 76 (3.7) | 82 (1.9) |
| Sex | |||||
| Female | 64 (2.2) | 68 (1.6) | 76 (1.4) | 77 (2.6) | 79 (1.7) |
| Male | 54 (2.1) | 57 (1.8) | 63 (1.6) | 67 (3.0) | 72 (1.6) |
| Race | |||||
| White | 60 (2.0) | 63 (1.5) | 70 (1.3) | 74 (2.9) | 76 (1.6) |
| Black | 53 (3.4) | 51 (2.9) | 65 (3.3) | 69 (4.8) | 77 (2.2) |
| Other | 55 (4.8) | 58 (6.5) | 65 (5.1) | 69 (5.9) | 78 (1.9) |
| Urbanization | |||||
| Urban | 58 (3.9) | 61 (1.7) | 74 (1.7) | 72 (7.0) | 72 (2.0) |
| Suburban | 63 (1.6) | 64 (1.5) | 67 (2.2) | 72 (2.9) | 76 (2.7) |
| Rural | 53 (3.5) | 60 (3.8) | 67 (1.8) | 68 (3.7) | 73 (2.2) |
* 2002 National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) changed the “youth” category to cover ages 8-15 rather than 5-15 and added a new category, “Booster Age,” to cover ages 4-7 with “Toddler” dropping to only ages 2 and 3. In 2002 restraint usage for Booster Age was 83 percent. Standard error figures were not available for the younger occupant categories in 2002.
** 1994 NOPUS collected only Adult (25 years or older).
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2004.
Looking back at earlier surveys, dating from the passage of the earliest mandatory use laws, the trend of increasing use can be even more clearly seen in Exhibit III-2. The first mandatory use law was passed by New York, and between 1984 and 1987, 31 states passed some form of mandatory restraint usage law. In this period, restraint usage nationally increased from 14 to 42 percent—a three-fold increase. By 1992, as more states enacted laws, approximately 5 of every 8 (62 percent) occupants were restrained. As the new century has started, usage is approaching 80 percent with 16 states exceeding 80 percent and only one state (New Hampshire) lacking a mandatory use law.
EXHIBIT III-2
National Seatbelt Use Rates, 1983-2003
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2004b.
Additional data from NHTSA show occupant restraint use by state (see Exhibit III-3). The figure shows that states with standard enforcement laws have higher restraint usage rates. The figure also shows a regional trend in restraint usage, with Far Western states generally having higher usage rates than other regions of the country. One of the Eastern states in the top ten states for usage is North Carolina; one probable reason for this is its public information, education, and enforcement campaigns. While the highest use rates are concentrated in the Far West, it is noted that there is no regional pattern for the states with the lowest use rates: they are scattered among the Upper Great Plains, Deep South, Midwest, and New England.
While usage rates have steadily increased, the rate of increase has slowed. This is a function of both that fact that percent changes become smaller as usage approaches 100 percent, and the fact that the “easy” converts to restraint have buckled up. It also probably reflects the changes in vehicle fleet and seatbelt design over the period. The challenge now is to increase restraint usage among those who have not yet accepted the educational or enforcement messages. While Exhibit III-3 shows that a standard enforcement law encourages usage, states without such a law, such as Washington State, can also achieve high usage rates.
EXHIBIT III-3
Seatbelt Use by State, 2002 Survey
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2004b.
As shown in Exhibit III-4, raising national usage rates to higher levels will have significant economic benefits as well as saving lives. Other studies have shown that those with the highest crash risk (generally young male drivers from less educated and lower socioeconomic classes) are also those with the lowest restraint usage rates. Therefore, even though the increases in percent usage will be smaller, the potential savings in both lives and economic loss can be proportionately higher.
In regard to child restraints, including booster seats, NHTSA states that these devices have been shown to be 71 percent effective in reducing the risk of death to infants and 4 percent effective in reducing deaths to children between the ages of 1 and 4 in passenger cars. NHTSA also estimates that lap/shoulder belts reduce the risk of fatal injury by 45 percent and moderate to critical injury by 50 percent for front seat passenger car occupants who are older than 5 years. Despite the effectiveness of child restraints and lap/shoulder belts in reducing the likelihood of severe and fatal injuries, crashes continue to occur in which apparently restrained children are being injured and killed.
A 1996 study on child passenger safety conducted by the NTSB examined whether child restraint systems were properly used, and found that in 62 percent of the cases, the restraint was improperly secured in the vehicle and/or the child was improperly secured in the child restraint. A 1999 study by the National Safe Kids Campaign found that 85 percent of child seats were misused (National Safety Council, 1999). This high level of child safety seat misuse was consistent with the findings of both a 1983 NTSB report (National Transportation Safety Board, 1983) and a 1997 NTSB symposium on child restraint misuse (National Transportation Safety Board, 1997).
EXHIBIT III-4
Potential Savings with Increased Restraint Usage
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1997
As seen in Exhibit III-1, restraint use for children, especially infants and toddlers, is very high, exceeding 90 percent in recent national surveys. The trend in child fatality rates has shown considerable decreases. The issue to be addressed concerning child restraints, then, is not their use generally; rather, it is ensuring proper use.
In addition, while all states do have child passenger restraint laws, there is considerable variation among those laws. Some states have adopted what is considered a model law, covering children of all ages in all seating positions, regardless of who owns or is operating the vehicle. Other states have less satisfactory laws that do not cover all ages or seating positions or exempt nonparent drivers from the law.
For an analysis of child passenger restraint laws in the United States, see http://www.highwaysafety.org/safety_facts/state_laws/restrain.htm.
Guidelines for a model law may be found at http://www.carseat.org/Legal/637_Guide_CPSlaw.pdf and http://www.safekids.org/tier3_cd.cfm?content_item_id=831&folder_id=183.
The highly regarded law for the State of California is summarized at http://www.carseat.org/Legal/6_sum_CA_Law.pdf.