Increase in Lives Saved, Injuries Prevented, and Cost Savings if Seat Belt Use Rose to at Least 90 Percent in All States

摘要

This note examines the potential increase in lives saved, injuries prevented, and cost savings that would be realized if seat belt use hypothetically rose to at least 90 percent in all States. Seat belts saved an estimated 15,147 lives in 2007, when the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) national belt use estimate was 82 percent. Table 1 provides details of the estimated benefits that would have been realized if the 38 States and the District of Columbia that, in 2007, had a seat belt use rate below 90 percent had been able to increase their 2007 seat belt use up to 90 percent. An estimated 1,652 additional lives would have been saved had this increase in seat belt use occurred, and nearly 40,000 more nonfatal injuries would have been prevented, resulting in additional cost savings of about $5.2 billion dollars. These benefit estimates have been generated by NHTSA's National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA). The number of lives saved are estimates that are calculated using the effectiveness of seat belts, and have been produced by NCSA each year since 1975. In 2008, the NOPUS belt use estimate increased to 83 percent.