SIGNIFICANT GAINS IN 1998 PUSH SEAT BELT USE TO HISTORIC LEVELS |
|---|
|
NHTSA
February 16, 1999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NHTSA 05-99
February 16, 1999
Contact: Rae Tyson
Tel. No. (202) 366-9550
Urging motorists to use their seat belts and place their children in child safety seats with National Child Passenger Safety Week underway, U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today announced that a new survey shows an estimated 19 million more Americans started buckling up in 1998, bringing the nation's seat belt usage to a record high level. With this increased use, an estimated 1,500 lives would be saved every year, according to the department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Secretary Slater credited tougher enforcement, stricter laws, education and public service campaigns by NHTSA and its public and private partners for the increase in seat belt use. He particularly praised the partnership and the pivotal role of the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign in two nationwide enforcement mobilizations--around Memorial Day and Thanksgiving--emphasizing the need to protect the nation's children.
"In his State of the Union address, President Clinton said that now is not the time to rest but to build," Secretary Slater said. "Tough laws; strict, highly visible enforcement; and continuing hard work by our many public- and private-sector partners nationwide will encourage even more motorists to use their seat belts, a goal underscoring the President's commitment to safety as the highest transportation priority."
Responding to President Clinton's commitment, Secretary Slater in April 1997 released a national strategy to increase seat belt use and reduce the number of child fatalities in traffic crashes. National Child Passenger Safety Week, the Buckle Up America campaign and other efforts to increase seat belt use are part of that national strategy.
As part of its Buckle Up America campaign, NHTSA and the Advertising Council in February unveiled a new, hard-hitting series of public service announcements that targeted infrequent belt users. In addition, the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, NHTSA and other partners are planning another enforcement mobilization around the Memorial Day holiday.
"Wearing seat belts is the one of the most important things you can do when you are inside a vehicle," said NHTSA Administrator Ricardo Martinez, M.D. "Though more progress must be made, we are heartened that many additional lives will be saved because people buckled up."
Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have primary seat belt laws, and Dr. Martinez encouraged other states to pass similar legislation. States with primary laws have seat belt use rates, on average, that are 17 percent higher than states with secondary laws.
In the District of Columbia, for example, belt use jumped from 66 percent to 82 percent following the passage and enforcement of a primary law, which allows police to stop motorists solely because of a seat belt infraction.
The basis for the new estimates is a series of tracking surveys NHTSA conducted in 1998 to judge progress in seat belt use over the year. Between May and December of 1998, seat belt use rose from 62.2 percent to 70.1 percent nationwide--the highest use rate ever. The NHTSA survey was scientifically based, with a margin of error of 4 percentage points. The surveys also measured seat belt use for drivers and passengers in all types of vehicles, unlike some earlier state surveys that have traditionally been used to calculate national seat belt averages.
Starting this year, states will be using a uniform, scientifically based survey method--a change that should provide a more accurate assessment of seat belt use nationwide, according to Dr. Martinez. The results of the latest state surveys will be available in March. But, because many state surveys were conducted in the spring and summer of 1998, NHTSA experts cautioned that it may take another year before state numbers reflect the significant increases detected by the agency survey at the end of 1998.
###