Light-Truck Occupants in Rural Communities — Special Challenges

• Fatal crashes in 2003 involved almost twice as many pickup trucks in rural areas (7,588) compared to urban areas (3,462).¹²

• Safety belt use in pickup trucks is lower in rural areas (62 percent) than in suburban areas (70 percent), but is lowest in urban areas (60 percent). By comparison, safety belt use in other vehicles is higher and more consistent in all three geographic areas: for SUVs and vans: 83, 82, and 85 percent respectively for rural, urban, and suburban areas; and for passenger cars: 76, 81, and 83 percent.¹³

• NHTSA focus group studies of young male pickup truck drivers in rural areas indicated there are numerous obstacles to overcome in convincing these drivers to buckle up. These obstacles include: the false belief that being unbelted in a crash is actually safer than being belted; social norms that discourage belt use; a fatalistic view of life; feeling safer in their trucks versus passenger vehicles; and the belief that wearing a safety belt is a personal choice and should not be mandated by law.¹⁴

• Fatal rollover crashes for all vehicle types are most prevalent in rural areas. See the table below.

• Of the fatalities that occurred in rollover crashes in rural areas, 77 percent of the pickup truck     occupants were unbelted and 68 percent of the SUV occupants were unbelted._¹⁵

• In 2003, there were 85 fatalities as a result of passengers riding in the cargo areas of pickup trucks (down from 91 in 2002). Of these fatalities, 55 (or 65 percent) occurred on rural roadways.¹⁶

Safety Belt Use Saves Lives And Dollars

• Safety belts saved 14,903 lives in America in 2003._¹⁷  Unfortunately, 56 percent of the passenger vehicle occupants killed in traffic crashes were unrestrained.¹⁸

• Research shows that lap/shoulder belts, when used properly, reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent and the risk of moderate to critical injury by 50 percent. For light-truck occupants, the effectiveness increases to 60 and 65 percent, respectively, and to 80 percent in rollover crashes.¹⁹

• Safety belts should always be worn, even when riding in vehicles equipped with air bags. Air bags are designed to work with safety belts, not by themselves. Air bags provide about an 11 percent reduction in fatality risk for the belted driver, and 14 percent for the unbelted driver in potentially fatal crashes.²⁰

• Safety belt use saves society an estimated $50 billion annually in medical care, lost productivity, and other injury-related costs.²¹

• Conversely, safety belt nonuse results in significant economic costs to society. The needless deaths and injuries from safety belt nonuse result in an estimated $26 billion in economic costs to society annually.²²