Traffic Tech: Identifying Opportunities to Decrease Vehicle Occupant Fatalities

NHTSA - Behavioral Safety Researchhttps://doi.org/10.21949/15259302017PDFBriefUnited States. National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationUnited States. National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationUnited StatesFatalitiesSeat belt useStatesTraffic law enforcementState Highway Safety OfficesDOT HS 812 434Seat belt use in the United States increased steadily in the last decade, but significant variability exists across the States. In 2014, State seat belt use ranged from a low of 68.9 percent to a high of 97.8 percent. Although higher use rates are generally associated with States having primary enforcement seat belt laws, several notable exceptions existed in both directions (primary law States with lower than average use rates and secondary law States with higher than average use rates; Chen, 2015). The same type of variability was seen with respect to belt use among fatally injured motor vehicle occupants. The premise behind this study was the possibility that higher performing States have organizations, strategies, or procedures that are more effective at increasing seat belt use than those employed by the lower performing States. Encouraging States with relatively low use rates to emulate the practices in higher performing States raises the potential for significantly improving nationwide seat-belt-use rates, reducing the number of vehicle occupant deaths and unbelted fatalities. By highlighting programmatic and other performance gaps between these two groups of States, the results from this study have the potential to provide a foundation for future strategic technical assistance initiatives to address these issues.129