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The Virginia Transportation Research Council was requested by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to estimate the changes in statewide safety belt use that would occur if the state were to modify its current mandatory use law (HUL) to permit primary enforcement. In carrying out the project, a literature review and a review of all state HUL statutes were conducted. In addition, three sources of data (two national and one state) were used to identify whether there were variations in the rates of safety belt use and the factors influencing any differences found. Several factors relevant to safety belt use were identified. Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia have an MUL, and 9 provide for primary enforcement. It was found that belt use was generally greater in states with primary enforcement. In addition, belt use was higher in localities with both an active public information campaign and an active enforcement effort. Finally, there was a large increase in belt use by front seat occupants in Virginia after passage of the HUL, whereas belt use by rear seat occupants dropped dramatically during the same period. It was concluded that either of two actions would result in a 6 to 8 percentage point Increase in the statewide belt use rate. These two actions are (1) modify the current MUL to provide for primary enforcement, or (2) amend the current HUL to apply to both front and rear seat occupants. Either change would result in a rise to a rate of approximately 62% from the current rate of 54%.
Increasing seat belt use is one of the most effective and least costly ways of reducing the lives lost and injuries incurred on the nation's highways each year, yet about one in four drivers and front-seat passengers continues to ride unbuckled. The Transportation Research Board, in response to a congressional request for a study to examine the potential of in-vehicle technologies to increase belt use, formed a panel of 12 experts having expertise in the areas of automotive engineering, design, and regulation; traffic safety and injury prevention; human factors; survey research methods; economics; and technology education and consumer interest. This panel, named the Committee for the Safety Belt Technology Study, examined the potential benefits of technologies designed to increase belt use, determined how drivers view the acceptability of the technologies, and considered whether legislative or regulatory actions are necessary to enable their installation on passenger vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the study sponsor, funded and conducted interviews and focus groups of samples of different belt user groups to learn more about the potential effectiveness and acceptability of technologies ranging from seat belt reminder systems to more aggressive interlock systems, and provided the information collected to the study committee. The committee also supplemented its expertise by holding its second meeting in Dearborn, Michigan, where it met in proprietary sessions with several of the major automobile manufacturers, a key supplier, and a small business inventor of a shifter interlock system to learn of planned new seat belt use technologies as well as about company data concerning their effectiveness and acceptability. The committee's findings and recommendations are presented in this five-chapter report.
Background -- Legislation -- Enforcement -- Sanctions -- Conclusions and discussions -- References -- Appendices.

NHTSA Oversight

United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 128


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