U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway |
Research Note
October 1999 |
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1998 State Shoulder Belt Use Survey Results
Background
In 1998, 49 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico each reported a statewide estimate of passenger vehicle shoulder belt use, based on surveys conducted following guidelines issued by the the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in September 1998. The guidelines were issued to establish a new occupant protection incentive grant program that was authorized under Section 1403 of the Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). This grant program, Section 157 of Title 23 of the United States Code, required states to provide estimates of their safety belt use rates that were "accurate and representative."
The guidelines for conducting State Safety Belt Use Surveys, Uniform Criteria for State Observational Surveys of Seat Belt Use (23 CFR Part 1340), are summarized below:
Results
Table 1 shows the shoulder belt use rates reported by the states in 1998. Use rates for front seat outboard occupants ranged from a high of 88.6 percent in California to a low of 40 percent in North Dakota. The second highest reported use rate, 82.6 percent, was reported by three states: Maryland, New Mexico, and Oregon.
Each state estimate of shoulder belt use rate was weighted by that state's number of vehicle miles traveled for 1997, the latest year available, resulting in a computed National average use rate of 68.7 percent. This computed National average use rate compares closely to the overall shoulder belt use rate estimated in the 1998 National Occupant Protection Use Survey, 68.9 percent, which was conducted in October 1998.
Table 1 1998 Reported Shoulder Belt Use Front Seat Outboard Occupants in Passenger Vehicles, by State |
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STATE | Use Rate | STATE | Use Rate | STATE | Use Rate | ||
ALABAMA | 52.0% | LOUISIANA | 65.6% | OKLAHOMA | 56.0% | ||
ALASKA | 57.0% | MAINE | 61.3% | OREGON | 82.6% | ||
ARIZONA | 61.5% | MARYLAND | 82.6% | PENNSYLVANIA | 67.8% | ||
ARKANSAS | 52.6% | MASSACHUSETTS | 51.0% | RHODE ISLAND | 58.6% | ||
CALIFORNIA | 88.6% | MICHIGAN | 69.9% | SOUTH CAROLINA | 64.8% | ||
COLORADO | 66.0% | MINNESOTA | 64.2% | SOUTH DAKOTA | 45.7% | ||
CONNECTICUT | 70.1% | MISSISSIPPI | 58.0% | TENNESSEE | 56.7% | ||
DELAWARE | 62.3% | MISSOURI | 60.4% | TEXAS | 74.4% | ||
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA | 79.6% | MONTANA | 73.1% | UTAH | 66.7% | ||
FLORIDA | 57.2% | NEBRASKA | 65.1% | VERMONT | 62.7% | ||
GEORGIA | 73.6% | NEVADA | 76.2% | VIRGINIA | 73.6% | ||
HAWAII | 80.5% | NEW HAMPSHIRE* | 55.6% | WASHINGTON | 79.1% | ||
IDAHO | 57.3% | NEW JERSEY | 63.0% | WEST VIRGINIA | 56.5% | ||
ILLINOIS | 64.5% | NEW MEXICO | 82.6% | WISCONSIN | 61.9% | ||
INDIANA | 61.8% | NEW YORK | 75.3% | WYOMING | 50.1% | ||
IOWA | 76.9% | NORTH CAROLINA | 76.7% | PUERTO RICO | 78.3% | ||
KANSAS | 58.7% | NORTH DAKOTA | 40.0% | Overall US | 68.7% | ||
KENTUCKY | 54.3% | OHIO | 60.6% |
For additional copies of this research note, please call 202.366.4198 or fax your request to 202.366.7078. For questions regarding the data reported in this research, contact Dennis Utter (202.366.5351) of the National Center for Statistics
and Analysis. This research note and other general information on highway traffic safety may be accessed by Internet users at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/ncsa.