| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
More African-Americans using seat belts, survey findsInfants, men also buckling up more often
From Julie Vallese
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Seat belt use among African-Americans reached an all-time high of 77 percent in 2002, increasing 8 percentage points since 2000, federal officials found in their most recent survey. The figure is the highest since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration started conducting seat belt surveys nine years ago. NHTSA Administrator Dr. Jeffrey Runge, a physician, is scheduled to announce the latest findings of the National Occupant Protection Use Survey at the Lifesavers 2003 conference Monday in Chicago, Illinois. "These numbers are the result of years of hard work by our traffic safety partners in the African-American community," Runge said. "This is extremely heartening and will quickly result in fewer deaths and injuries to our citizens." The new survey also found men are wearing their seat belts more often, at 72 percent of the time. But they still lag behind women, who buckle up about 79 percent of the time. In the 2000 survey, there was a 10 percentage-point difference between men and women. Americans also are doing better at buckling up children. Infant restraints reached a record level, with children under age 1 being restrained 99 percent of the time -- up 4 points since 2000. Ninety-four percent of toddlers, those children between the ages of 1 and 3, are being retrained. The survey also indicates that 8- to 15-year-olds are being properly restrained 82 percent of the time. The survey in 2000 found that 66 percent of youths ages 5 to 15 buckled up. The latest statistics show that 83 percent of children ages 4 to 7 are restrained. The survey was conducted during a 20-day period last year, with 37,900 drivers and 11,600 passengers observed around the nation. Among other findings of the survey, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points: • People ages 16 to 24 use their seat belts the least, at 69 percent • Seat belt use in rural areas increased 5 percentage points, to 73 percent • Only about 65 percent of men in pickup trucks buckle up • 80 percent of women in passenger cars, 82 percent of them in vans and SUVs, and 71 percent in pickup trucks wear seat belts
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
