Impact of Legislation, Enforcement, and Sanctions on Safety Belt Use. National Cooperative Highway Research Program

摘要

This review focuses on the impact of legislation, enforcement, and sanctions in increasingsafety belt usage (SBU). It finds strong and consistent evidence of past and current legislative and enforcement efforts, as well as consistent evidence suggesting the importance of sanctions.All three measures must be publicized to maximize their potential for impact.The earliest SBU laws were associated with a median 32 percentage point increase in observed usage, from baselines of 16% to 18%. Increases were greater in states that allowed for standard (primary) enforcement procedures and, in those states, they were greatest when enforcement and/or sanctions were present. In general, these early laws affected lower-risk groups(e.g., females, adults, urban and late-night motorists, etc.) to a greater extent than higher-risk groups (e.g. males, teens, rural and daytime motorists, etc.), thus increasing the usagegap between such groups. These laws resulted in median 7% to 9% reductions in fatalities and 13% reductions in injuries. These reductions were lower than expected, based on the magnitude of increases and the known effectiveness of safety belts against deaths.