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Policy Impact: Seat Belts(January 2011)

What's the Issue?

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in the first three decades of American’s lives. In 2009 alone, crashes killed over 33,000 people and injured another 2.2 million—more than 70% of these were in passenger vehicles and trucks.1

More than half of the people killed in car crashes were not restrained at the time of the crash.¹ Wearing a seat belt is the most effective way to prevent death and serious injury in a crash.

Seat belt use is on the rise. Laws, education, and technology have increased seat belt use from 11% in 1981² to nearly 85% in 2010³, saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Yet, about 1 in 7 people still don’t buckle up.

There are proven policies to increase seat belt use and save lives.

In 2009, more than 90 people died in motor vehicle crashes every day.1

What Do We Know?

Most drivers and passengers killed in crashes are unrestrained. 53% of drivers and passengers killed in car crashes in 2009 were not wearing restraints.¹

Seat belts dramatically reduce risk of death and serious injury. Among drivers and front-seat passengers, seat belts reduce the risk of death by 45%, and cut the risk of serious injury by 50%.⁴

Seat belts prevent drivers and passengers from being ejected during a crash. People not wearing a seat belt are 30 times more likely to be ejected from a vehicle during a crash. More than 3 out of 4 people who are ejected during a fatal crash die from their injuries.⁵

Seat belts save thousands of lives each year, and increasing use would save thousands more. Seat belts saved almost 13,000 lives in 2009. If all drivers and passengers had worn seat belts that year, almost 4,000 more people would be alive today.⁶

These facts show that increasing seat belt use is critical to reduce injury and saving lives.

Most People Killed in Crashes are Drivers or Passengers1

Seat Belts Have Saved an Estimated 255,000 Lives Since 19755

In one year alone, crash deaths and injuries to drivers and passengers cost $70 billion in medical and lost work costs.7

What Can We Do?

Seat belts protect people from needless death and injury. But whether it is because they are in a hurry, distracted, or they simply forget, many people don’t wear their seat belts, and thousands die as a result. CDC recommends effective, well-enforced seat belt laws to ensure that every person in every seat buckles up on every trip.

Primary enforcement states have seat belt use 9 percentage points higher than secondary states.⁸

CDC Recommendations

Primary enforcement seat belt laws

Laws requiring seat belt use are either “primary” or “secondary” enforcement laws. Primary enforcement laws allow police officers to pull over drivers and issue tickets just because the drivers—or their passengers— aren’t wearing seat belts. Secondary enforcement laws only allow police officers to issue tickets for seat belt violations if drivers have been pulled over for some other offense.

Secondary enforcement significantly limits the ability of officers to enforce seat belt laws. Rates of seat belt use are 9 percentage points higher in primary enforcement states than secondary states.8

If the overall prevalence of seat belt use in states with secondary enforcement laws had matched the higher prevalence in states with primary laws, an additional 7.3 million adults would have buckled up in 2008.⁸ Increasing the number of states with primary enforcement seat belt laws covering all positions will increase seat belt use and save lives.

Enhanced enforcement of existing seat belt laws

“Enhanced enforcement” programs seek to better support seat belt laws by either increasing the average number of citations each officer issues or by increasing the number of officers on patrol. These measures are supported by publicity campaigns, like the successful “Click It or Ticket” initiative.

Research has shown that enhanced enforcement programs increase seat belt use by a median of 16 percentage points.⁹ Communities that follow this model and implement these programs will increase seat belt use.

Enhanced enforcement increases seat belt use by a median of 16 percentage points.⁹

Nineteen States Still Lack a Primary Enforcement Seat Belt Law

(Last updated December 2010)

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety maintains current information about state laws, who they cover, and fines.

See alphabetical listing of states with primary seat belt law, secondary seat belt law, and no seat belt law (as of December 2010).

References

1. Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic Safety Facts: Highlights of 2009 Motor Vehicle Crashes. Washington (DC): NHTSA; 2010. Available at URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811363.pdf

2. CDC. Achievements in public health, 1900-1999 motor-vehicle safety: a 20th century public health achievement. MMWR 1999;48:369-74.

3. Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic Safety Facts: Seat Belt Use in 2010—Overall Results. Washington (DC): NHTSA; 2010. Available at URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811378.pdf

4. Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic Safety Facts: Children. Washington (DC): NHTSA; 2010. Available at URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811387.pdf

5. Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic Safety Facts: Occupant Protection. Washington (DC): NHTSA; 2009. Available at URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811160.pdf

6. Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Lives Saved in 2009 by Restraint Use and Minimum-Drinking-Age Laws. Washington (DC): NHTSA; 2010. Available at URL: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811383.pdf

7. Naumann RB, Dellinger AM, Zaloshnja E, Lawrence BA, Miller TR. Incidence and total lifetime costs of motor vehicle-related fatal and nonfatal injury by road user type, United States, 2005. Traffic Injury Prev 2010;11:353–360.

8. Beck LF, West BA. Vital Signs: Motor Vehicle Occupant Nonfatal Injuries (2009) and Seat Belt Use (2008) Among Adults—United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2011.

9. Guide to Community Preventive Services. Use of Safety Belts: Enhanced Enforcement Programs. [cited 2010 Nov 24]. Available at URL: http://www.thecommunityguide.org/mvoi/safetybelts/enforcementprograms.html

10. Dept of Transportation (US), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Traffic Tech: Primary laws and fine levels are associated with increases in seat belt use. Washington (DC): NHTSA; 2010. Available at URL: http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/traffic_tech/TT400.pdf

Policy Impact

Policy Impact is a series of issue briefs from CDC’s Injury Center highlighting key public health issues and important, science-based policy actions that can be taken to address them

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You  are in a crowded maze, where everyone in wearing rocket-powered shoes. You need to concentrate on You  are in a crowded maze, where everyone in wearing rocket-powered shoes. You need to concentrate on moving your rocket shoes to steer, accelerate and decelerate.If you touch someone else, you DIE.If you were to not follow precautions such as wearing a seatbelt, your rocket shoes would go out of control, you would collide into another person and...

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Working together, we can help keep people safe on the road – every day. Encourage drivers and passengers to buckle up on every trip.

Fact sheets are available for each state and the District of Columbia and include national and state data on restraint use and occupant crash deaths, as well as an overview of proven strategies for increasing the use of seat belts, car seats, and booster seats.

Need data for your state? View and download seat belt datasets from our State Data web page.

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One of the safest choices drivers and passengers can make is to buckle up. In 2016, seat belt use in passenger vehicles saved an estimated 14,668 lives. Many Americans understand the lifesaving value of the seat belt – the national use rate is at 90.1 percent – but nearly 27.5 million people still don’t buckle up. Understand the potentially fatal consequences of not wearing a seat belt and learn what you can do to make sure you and your family are properly buckled up every time.
https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/seat-belts

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There are no excuses. Wear Them.

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This is what driving is theoretically like:
You  are in a crowded maze, where everyone in wearing rocket-powered shoes. You need to concentrate on moving your rocket shoes to steer, accelerate and decelerate.If you touch someone else, you DIE.If you were to not follow precautions such as wearing a seatbelt, your rocket shoes would go out of control, you would collide into another person and...
DIE (x_x)

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Each year about 33,000 people are killed in motor vehicle crashes.  According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), car crashes are the leading cause of death for people age 4 and every age 11 through 27 in the U.S.  With 45 to 60 percent effectiveness, seat belts are the single most effective means of reducing the risk of death in a crash and have saved nearly 300,000 lives since 1975 in the U.S. alone.

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In one year alone, crash deaths and injuries to drivers and passengers cost $70 billion in medical and lost work costs.7

What Can We Do?

Seat belts protect people from needless death and injury. But whether it is because they are in a hurry, distracted, or they simply forget, many people don’t wear their seat belts, and thousands die as a result. CDC recommends effective, well-enforced seat belt laws to ensure that every person in every seat buckles up on every trip.

# data[].attributes.body
Seat belts protect people from needless death and injury. But whether it is because they are in a hurry, distracted, or they simply forget, many people don’t wear their seat belts, and thousands die as a result. CDC recommends effective, well-enforced seat belt laws to ensure that every person in every seat buckles up on every trip.

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Most drivers and passengers killed in crashes are unrestrained. 53% of drivers and passengers killed in car crashes in 2009 were not wearing restraints.¹

Seat belts dramatically reduce risk of death and serious injury. Among drivers and front-seat passengers, seat belts reduce the risk of death by 45%, and cut the risk of serious injury by 50%.⁴

Seat belts prevent drivers and passengers from being ejected during a crash. People not wearing a seat belt are 30 times more likely to be ejected from a vehicle during a crash. More than 3 out of 4 people who are ejected during a fatal crash die from their injuries.⁵

Seat belts save thousands of lives each year, and increasing use would save thousands more. Seat belts saved almost 13,000 lives in 2009. If all drivers and passengers had worn seat belts that year, almost 4,000 more people would be alive today.⁶ https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/seatbeltbrief/index.html

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In 2009, more than 90 people died in motor vehicle crashes every day.
https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/seatbeltbrief/index.html

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It takes 3 seconds to put on a seatbelt instead of death

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Seat belt use is on the rise. Laws, education, and technology have increased seat belt use from 11% in 1981² to nearly 85% in 2010³, saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Yet, about 1 in 7 people still don’t buckle up.
https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/seatbeltbrief/index.html

# data[].attributes.body
More than half of the people killed in car crashes were not restrained at the time of the crash.¹ Wearing a seat belt is the most effective way to prevent death and serious injury in a crash.
https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/seatbeltbrief/index.html

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deaths and pain

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Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in the first three decades of American’s lives. In 2009 alone, crashes killed over 33,000 people and injured another 2.2 million—more than 70% of these were in passenger vehicles and trucks.
https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/seatbeltbrief/index.html

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SEAT BELTS

Do you use your seat belt on every ride? Buckling up on every ride is the single most important thing a family can do to stay safe in the car. Here are a few tips to make buckling up a part of every car ride.

Hard Facts about Not Wearing Seat Belts

More than half of teens (ages 13-19) and adults (ages 20-44) who died in crashes in 2015 were not wearing a seat belt. (NHTSA)

Top Tips about Wearing Seat Belts

1. Don’t be in a hurry to move your child out of the belt positioning booster seat. The adult seat belt usually does not fit well until sometime between the ages of 8 and 12, depending on the size of your child.

2. Find out if your child is ready for the seat belt alone by doing the Safety Belt Fit Test:

Check knees and feet. Your child’s knees should bend at the edge of the seat when her back and bottom are against the vehicle seat back. Her feet should touch the floor for comfort and stability.

Check the lap belt. The vehicle lap belt must fit snugly across the hips or upper thighs.

Check the shoulder belt. The shoulder belt must fit across the shoulder and chest, NOT across the face or neck.

3. If your child doesn’t pass the test, keep him in a booster seat until he does.

4. Remember, just because the seat belt fits your child in one car doesn’t mean the seat belt will fit in all cars. Do the Seat Belt Fit Test in every car before permanently moving from the booster seat to seat belt alone.

5. Be a good example. We know that when adults wear seat belts, kids wear seat belts. So be a good example and buckle up for every ride. Be sure everyone in the vehicle buckles up, too.

https://www.safekids.org/safetytips/field_risks/seatbelt