Study: Seat belt use at an all-time high
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Seat-belt use has hit an all-time high in the United States, the Department of Transportation announced Thursday.
According to an annual study by the department, 80 percent of Americans now wear a seat belt while driving or riding in vehicles.
"It's no coincidence that because eight out of 10 Americans are wearing their safety belts, we have also achieved the lowest traffic fatality rate on our nation's highways since record-keeping began 29 years ago," Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said.
Seat-belt usage has been steadily increasing in recent years. In 2000, 71 percent of Americans strapped themselves in, a rate that was up to 79 percent in 2003.
Mineta said the increasing use of seat belts will save 14,200 lives and $50 billion in costs related to traffic crashes, injuries and death. He attributed the trend to tougher seat belt laws.
In jurisdictions with primary seat-belt laws, which allow police to stop a driver for not wearing a seat belt, 84 percent of motorists buckled up. In areas with secondary laws, which allow police to ticket unrestrained motorists only when they have already been stopped for a separate violation, the rate was 73 percent.
As of the 2004 survey, 21 states had primary seat belt laws and 29 had secondary laws. Delaware, Illinois and Tennessee added primary laws since the 2003 survey.
Only New Hampshire allows drivers and passengers 18 or older to ride unbelted.
Mineta made the announcement in Seattle, Washington, in a state whose residents wear seat belts 94 percent of the time.
Among the survey's findings are:
Pickup drivers are least like to buckle up. Only 70 percent of those drivers wear seat belts.Vans and SUV drivers are most likely to wear their seat belts, with usage at 83 percent .Compliance by motorists in passenger cars is 81 percent.Motorists buckle up most often when driving on highways (88 percent), in fast traffic (85 percent) and in heavy traffic (88 percent).Motorists in the West wear seat belts the most (84 percent), followed by the South (80 percent), the Midwest (77 percent) and the Northeast (76 percent).In 2003 the Department of Transportation reported 42,643 people died on the nation's roadways, for a rate of 1.48 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, the lowest fatality rate recorded since record keeping began in 1974.
The National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) uses trained observers on roadsides or in vehicles on expressways. They observed almost 200,000 vehicle occupants in a little more than a month.
