The effect of New York's seat belt use law on teenage drivers

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Abstract

This study assessed the effects of New York State's recently adopted mandatory seat belt use law on teenage drivers. Teenage drivers were observed as they entered high school parking lots before the law was adopted, after it was adopted but before it was effective, one month after the effective date, and again five months after the effective date. The results showed that 14% of the teenage drivers were wearing either shoulder or lap belts or both prior to adoption of the law. This increased-to 22% after adoption of the law, 60% one month after the effective date of the law, and 63% five months after the effective date. Teenagers using seat belts were more often female, were younger, had completed driver education and had a longer trip from home to school. Both before and after the law, teenage belt use was similar to, but typically lower than, belt use in the community in which the school was located.

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    Evidence-based recommendations made by the U.S. Task Force on Community Preventive Services state “the use of safety belts is the single most effective means of reducing fatal and nonfatal injuries in motor-vehicle crashes.”3 Numerous reports documenting lower seatbelt use among teens compared to older motorists4–11 have engendered a wide range of interventions to promote teen seatbelt use. However, little is known about differences in driver-versus-passenger seatbelt use among teens that could inform more-targeted interventions.

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    Many risk factors for car crash among young drivers were identified and studied in past decades (Jonah, 1986; Macdonald, 1994; Gregersen, 1996). Due to the fact that teenage drivers have been identified to have excessive involvement in road crashes in most motorised countries (Williams, 1999), much concerted efforts have been invested in the study of risk factors for crash injury among teenage drivers, especially for 16–17-year-olds (Preusser et al., 1987; Anonymous, 1994; Williams et al., 1995; Williams, 1997; Ulmer et al., 1997; Doherty et al., 1998; Chen et al., 2000, Ulmer et al., 2000; Regan and Mitsopoulos, 2001). The circumstances and characteristics of car crashes among young drivers, in particular teenage drivers, have previously been reported (Williams et al., 1995; Williams and Wells, 1995; Doherty et al., 1998).

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Requests for reprints should be addressed to Allan F. Williams. This work was supported by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The opinions, findings and conclusions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

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