Safety Belt Use Laws

Forty-nine states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Territories have enacted safety belt use laws.

Safety Belt Use and Car Crashes

• In 1996 the overall safety belt use rate was 68 percent.*
• Among front seat passenger vehicle occupants over 4 years old, safety belts saved an estimated 10,414 lives in 1996.
• In 1996, if every passenger vehicle front seat occupant had buckled up, an additional 9,754 deaths could have been prevented.
• Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death for Americans.
• In 1996, 6.8 million motor vehicle crashes were reported by the police; 3.5 million people were injured or killed in these crashes.
• In 1996, 41,907 deaths resulted from crashes; that is an average of 115 deaths per day or 1 death every 13 minutes.
• Eighty-five percent of all crashes occur within 25 miles of home.
• Fifty-eight percent of fatal and injury crashes occur on roads with posted speed limits of 40 miles per hour or less.
• Motor vehicle crashes cost society more than $150.5 billion each year. These costs not only include health care costs, but also insurance and legal costs, lost productivity, costs to employees, and other costs.
• If safety belt use increased from the current 68 percent to 100 percent, the nation would save $13.2 billion annually.

Important Information About Safety Belts and Air Bags
How important is proper safety belt use and child safety seat use, and do air bags really provide additional protection in serious crashes?

Safety Belts
In 1996, 32,317 occupants of passenger vehicles were killed in motor vehicle crashes. That�s 77 percent of the 41,907 traffic fatalities reported for the year. Despite their life-saving potential, safety belts were only used by 68 percent of adult drivers and passengers.

* Statistics for 1997 indicate safety belt use was 69 percent.

The President�s Buckle Up America! campaign recommends new ambitious safety belt use goals to increase national safety belt use to 85 percent by the year 2000 and 90 percent by 2005 (from 68 percent in 1996). As part of a four-point plan, the campaign identifies enacting strong safety belt legislation by adopting primary safety belt laws as an important strategy in meeting these new national goals. The other strategies in the four-point plan include building public-private partnerships; embracing active, high-visibility enforcement; and conducting well coordinated, effective public education efforts.

Increasing the safety belt use rate from 68 percent (1996) to 85 percent would prevent an estimated 4,194 fatalities and 102,518 injuries annually. This reduction in injuries and deaths would result in an economic savings of approximately $6.7 billion annually (1996 dollars). Increasing the safety belt use rate from 68 percent to 90 percent would prevent an estimated 5,536 fatalities and 132,670 injuries annually and would save $8.8 billion annually.

Child Passenger Safety
While child safety seat use is high, many child safety seats are improperly installed. Among children under 5 years old, 365 were saved in 1996 by child restraint use. However, recent deaths tragically illustrate that many parents and caregivers do not understand that children should ride properly restrained in the back seat of cars with passenger air bags. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is determined to inform every parent and caregiver about air bag issues by working with partners in the health/medical field, auto manufacturers, and insurance companies.

Air Bag Safety Air bags inflate at speeds up to 200 miles per hour � faster than a blink of an eye. That blast can severely hurt or kill anyone sitting too close to the air bag during inflation. INFANTS IN REAR-FACING CHILD SEATS MUST NEVER RIDE IN THE FRONT SEAT OF A CAR WITH A PASSENGER AIR BAG. Even some forward-facing child safety seats place a child at least several inches closer to the dashboard than the normal adult, dangerously within range of the air bag before it is fully inflated. Children ages 12 and under who are unbelted, too small for the lap and shoulder belt to fit properly, or leaning forward, could be thrown toward the dashboard during pre-crash braking. In this position, the air bag can strike them on the head or neck with tremendous force, causing severe injury or death. Parents can protect their children from any danger of an air bag injury by making sure that children ages 12 and under sit properly restrained in the back seat. Almost all of the children killed by air bags were completely unrestrained or were riding in rear-facing infant seats in the front seat.

Vehicle owners and lessees can obtain an on-off switch for one or both of their air bags only if they can certify that they are, or a user of their vehicle is, in one of the four risk groups: infants in rear-facing infant seats; drivers or passengers with unusual medical or physical conditions; children ages 1 to 12; or drivers who cannot get back 10 inches from the air bag cover. Applicants for an on-off switch must read the NHTSA brochure, Air Bags and On-Off Switches, and submit a completed application form. Both the brochure and form are available from state driver licensing offices, AAA Clubs, and may be available at automobile dealerships. They can also be requested by calling NHTSA�s Auto Safety Hotline at 1-800-424-9393 or by visiting the NHTSA Web Site at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov.

What Adults Can Do to Protect Themselves with Air Bags
Protecting parents is an important consideration as well. The air bag that may be a threat to a child riding in the front seat is the same air bag that could save a child�s parents in a serious crash.

All properly belted drivers, regardless of age and size, are safer with an air bag than without, and almost 2,700 lives have been saved by air bags as of December 1, 1997. Compared with the number of lives saved, 35 drivers are known to have died of injuries caused by air bags in low-severity crashes; about 1 death for every 40,000 deployments. Eighteen of those who died were not wearing safety belts, 3 were using safety belts improperly, and safety belt use is unknown for 3 of the drivers. Drivers and passengers, particularly people of short stature, should make sure they are properly belted and that front seats are moved back away from the dashboard as far as is practical.