Traffic Tech #308: Teen Safety Belt Use Programs |
|---|
|
Teens have higher fatality and injury rates in motor vehicle crashes than any other age group. This may be attributable to both driving inexperience and a greater propensity for risk-taking behaviors (e.g., speeding, drunk driving, distracted driving, not wearing safety belts). Teens also have lower safety belt use rates than adults. In 2003, 63 percent of 16- to 20-year-old passenger vehicle occupants were unrestrained in fatal crashes, compared to 55 percent of unrestrained fatally injured adults 21 or older.
To address this problem, many States have developed and implemented traffic safety programs focusing on belt use among teens. These programs vary considerably in their strategies and levels of success. In an effort to identify the most effective approaches to increasing teen belt use, NHTSA sponsored a project that reviewed the scientific literature and relevant traffic safety programs. The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation conducted these reviews and prepared a report that presents the magnitude of the problem of teen safety belt use and summarizes programs, interventions, and strategies that can potentially increase safety belt usage by teens.
The following approaches were identified in the report as potential strategies to increase safety belt use among teens.
Legislation
Research has demonstrated that primary safety belt laws, if highly publicized, increase safety belt usage in the general population. NHTSA recently estimated that adopting primary safety belt laws raises safety belt use by 11 percentage points. This strategy may have the greatest effect on teen safety belt usage as well. Note the effect of teen safety belt use as a function of a State’s safety belt law in Table 1.
A majority of States have adopted graduated driver licensing (GDL) laws with three phases of licensure. Some of these GDL laws either include safety belt usage as a provision, or provide for sanctions if a safety belt violation occurs. However, most teens and parents are not aware of this GDL requirement. For example, in a recent
Table 1: Safety Belt Usage by 16- to 20-Year-Old Drivers in Fatal Crashes as a Function of State Safety Belt Laws (
Enforcement
Highly publicized and visible increased enforcement of safety belt laws increases safety belt usage in the general population; it is reasonable to assume that teen belt usage would increase as well. The highly publicized Click It or Ticket (CIOT) mobilizations have demonstrated safety belt usage will increase even in secondary enforcement States. If CIOT enforcement is tailored to young drivers (e.g., near high schools, colleges, and recreational facilities) and is publicized over youth-oriented radio and television stations (e.g., MTV), teen drivers may start wearing their safety belts more often.
Combined Approaches
While legislation, public information and education, and enforcement are all sound approaches to addressing teen safety belt usage, previous research and NHTSA demonstration projects indicate that combining these approaches provides the best strategy for influencing behavior. A combined approach might include strengthening the safety belt laws in a given State, educating the public, publicizing the new or existing law, enforcing the law, and working with community organizations to provide outreach to the citizens.
Technological Approaches
While enhanced safety belt reminders such as buzzers, lights, and messages on the dashboard target the general population, they may be particularly effective for teen drivers. This may be because teens have a lower safety belt use rate to begin with, they tend to “forget” to buckle up when other teens are in the car, and they are probably less likely to disengage such systems. Some parents may want to purchase cars for their teens equipped with reminder systems to ensure or enhance safety belt usage.
In-vehicle computer systems already exist to record and monitor safety belt usage, speed, and other behaviors. If parents purchase vehicles for their teens equipped with these monitors, use of the systems could increase teen safety belt usage substantially.
Peer-Led Approaches
Peer-led educational and awareness approaches hold promise in changing youth norms and attitudes about safety belt usage. It is unclear whether this leads to sustained high usage rates. However, there is some evidence that youth-initiated monitoring of safety belt usage has a modest effect on teen belt usage.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other organizations have developed multimedia shows for schools that attempt to persuade youth to wear safety belts and not engage in underage drinking. Preliminary evaluation of some of these shows, which include a peer-to-peer message, indicate that self-reported safety belt use has increased for students exposed to them. There is no supporting observational data to date.
Counseling
At least one study showed that brief counseling in a medical setting increases self-reported safety belt use by teens. If medical professionals introduce brief interventions at medical settings more frequently to reduce abusive drinking and impaired driving, they might also be effective in increasing safety belt use, especially by youth.
Parental Involvement
Parents talking to teens about safety belt use, without supporting activities, probably will not be effective. However, parental communication combined with close monitoring and supervision of teen driving behavior could have an effect. Teens report that their parents have more influence over them than parents think. For example, one State observational survey showed that youths age 5 to 15 wore safety belts 72 percent of the time; however, when an adult driver used a safety belt, 5- to 15-year-old passengers were restrained 85 percent of the time. Other public health areas have indicated that parents can have an influence on risk-taking behavior (e.g., smoking). This strategy has potential for increasing teen safety belt use.
Summary
In summary, proven effective strategies for increasing safety belt use in the general population may have the most immediate and greatest potential for increasing teen safety belt use. These strategies include:
- upgrading State safety belt laws to primary enforcement;
- highly publicized enforcement of safety belt laws;
- GDL laws with safety belt provisions, coupled with sanctions for safety belt violations; and
- community programs that combine education, peer-to-peer persuasion, publicized enforcement, and parental monitoring.
Technological solutions hold great promise for the future. Enhanced safety belt reminders appear to be effective for all age groups. Safety Belt use recorders could allow parents and caregivers to monitor teens’ behavior, if accepted by the public. Interlock systems, such as not allowing the radio or compact disk player to turn on until all passengers are wearing safety belts also hold promise in influencing teen safety belt use.
Combinations of strategies seem to work better than one strategy alone. A community program including education, diversity outreach, highly publicized enforcement, and parental involvement could have a substantial effect on teen safety belt use.
How To Order
For a copy of Increasing Teen Safety Belt Use: A Program and Literature Review, (67 pages plus appendices) write to the Office of Impaired Driving and Occupant Protection Division, NHTSA, NTI-112, 400 Seventh Street, SW, Washington, DC 20590 or send a fax to 202-366-7096, or download from www.nhtsa.dot.gov. Jennifer Warren was the contract manager.
TRAFFIC TECH is a publication to disseminate information about traffic safety programs, including evaluations, innovative programs, and new publications. Feel free to copy it as you wish. If you would like to receive a copy, contact Patricia Ellison Potter, Ph.D., Editor, by fax at 202-366-7096, or e-mail at patricia.ellison-potter@nhtsa.dot.gov.