Recent estimates of safety belt use

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2004.03.010Get rights and content

Abstract

The National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) has shown that safety belt use in the United States has increased steadily over the past decade. Increases have been consistent since 2000, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in partnership with the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, increased its encouragement of states to implement highly visible enforcement programs. In 2003, significant increases were found in the South; in secondary law states; in all types of vehicles; during both weekdays and weekends; and during both rush-hours and non-rush-hours. In spite of these increases, use remains significantly lower in secondary law states; pickup trucks; the Northeast; and the Midwest. The differences between primary and secondary law states and between pickups and other passenger vehicles have been consistent from year to year. A controlled intersection study, which is part of the NOPUS, has shown that safety belt use has increased for both sexes, for nearly all age groups, and for all races for which data are available. Finally, the NOPUS suggests that children are 3–4 times as likely to be unrestrained when riding with an unbuckled driver as when driving with a buckled driver.

Section snippets

Background

In 1994, the National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began conducting a scientific national safety belt survey. The objective of this survey, the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), is to provide an estimate of observed safety belt use across the nation and to provide demographic detail regarding safety belt use. The NOPUS is the only probability-based observational survey of safety belt use in the United

Methodology

The NOPUS uses a multi-stage probability sample. In the first stage of the sample selection, counties are grouped by region (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West), level of urbanization (metropolitan or non-metropolitan), and level of safety belt use (high, medium, or low). Primary sampling units (PSUs) consist of 50 counties or groups of counties selected from within these strata. Frequency of selection is based on estimated vehicle miles traveled (VMT).

In the second stage of the sample, a

Increase in the national use rate

Since 1997, when the national enforcement mobilizations were launched, there has been a steady increase in the national use rate. There has been a particularly steady improvement since 2000 when additional emphasis was placed on highly visible enforcement in the states, starting with the South Carolina CIOT program. Since that time an increasing number of states have also adopted the CIOT theme for their Special Traffic Enforcement Programs (STEPS) (Fig. 1).

In June of 2003, safety belt use was

Summary

The NOPUS provides a scientific estimate of levels and changes in safety belt use in the United States. Surveys conducted since 1994 have shown that such use has increased steadily over the past decade with the most consistent increases occurring since 2000, when NHTSA, in partnership with ABSBSC, increased its focus on highly visible enforcement programs in the states. Since that time, many states have adopted Click It or Ticket programs and the results from NOPUS suggest that these programs

References (3)

  • Bondy, N., & Glassbrenner, D. (2001). National Occupant Protection Use Survey — 2000: Controlled Intersection Study...
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (42)

  • A home-based approach to understanding the effect of spatial autocorrelation on seat belt non-use

    2021, Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
    Citation Excerpt :

    The geography of vehicle occupants’ residential location might also serve as a proxy for their behavioral patterns when such data are not available (Foster, 1999; Kamruzzaman & Hine, 2013; Van Acker, Van Wee, & Witlox, 2010). Considering the demographics of vehicle occupants, males have lower seat belt use rates compared to females (Afghari, Hezaveh, Haque, & Cherry, 2020; Calisir & Lehto, 2002; Gkritza & Mannering, 2008; Glassbrenner, Carra, & Nichols, 2004; Nelson, Bolen, & Kresnow, 1998; Pickrell & Ye, 2009; Preusser, Williams, & Lund, 1991; Reinfurt, Williams, Wells, & Rodgman, 1997; Wells, Williams, & Farmer, 2002). This also holds for younger drivers than older adults (Calisir & Lehto, 2002; Glassbrenner et al., 2004; Reinfurt et al., 1997).

  • A statistical analysis of the correlates of compliance and defiance of seatbelt use

    2021, Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
  • A home-based approach to understanding seatbelt use in single-occupant vehicles in Tennessee: Application of a latent class binary logit model

    2020, Accident Analysis and Prevention
    Citation Excerpt :

    Numerous studies have shown that males are more prone to not wearing seatbelt compared to females (e.g., Pickrell and Ye, 2009; Gkritza and Mannering, 2008; Hezaveh and Cherry, 2019a). Younger drivers have been reported to have lower seatbelt use rates compared to older drivers (Glassbrenner et al., 2004; Calisir and Lehto, 2002). Drivers with higher education levels and higher income levels have been reported to have higher seatbelt use rates (Houston and Richardson, 2005; Wells et al., 2002).

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text