S E A T B E L T S
S A V E L I V E S
Section VSupport is High for Standard Seat Belt Laws
Public Opinion
A July 1997 poll of registered voters by Public Opinion Strategies found overwhelming public support for standard seat belt use laws across demographic groups:
61 percent of respondents favored standard enforcement of seat belt laws (up from 52 percent just four months earlier)
68 percent of African-American respondents favored standard enforcement of seat belt laws
Only 11 percent of African-American respondents strongly opposed standard enforcement of seat belt laws (compared to 20 percent of all respondents)
In 1996, NHTSA asked the American public about seat belt use laws and the response was enormously positive:
Eighty-six percent of those surveyed favored laws that require drivers and front-seat passengers to wear seat belts
Seventy-five percent of the people who support front-seat laws believe that seat belt use laws should apply to back-seat adult passengers as well
The majority of the public believes that police should be allowed to stop a vehicle if they observe only a seat belt use violation (standard enforcement)
In standard seat belt use law states, nearly two-thirds (65 percent) favor standard enforcement
Past surveys have found similar results. In 1991, the private safety group Traffic Safety Now conducted a national telephone survey and found that 73 percent of those polled said they would support a standard seat belt use law in their state if they knew that it would result in more seat belt use and more lives being saved.
Law Enforcement
In surveys of attitudes toward seat belt law enforcement methods, law enforcement officers consistently point out that secondary enforcement laws are difficult to enforce ant that this difficulty deters them from issuing citations.
In Louisiana focus groups of five communities (October 1995) the upgrade to standard enforcement was well received by local law enforcement officers. The large majority of officers indicated upgrading the seat belt use law to standard enforcement was a good change and sent the message that belt use was required. Follow-up focus groups (June 1996) indicated that law enforcement support for the standard belt law remained strong and that standard enforcement elevated the importance of the belt law violation in the eyes of the officer.
In a 1993 NHTSA survey of traffic and patrol officers in six California cities, officers favored California’s change to standard enforcement. Most officers felt that it communicated to motorists both the need to use belts and the increased likelihood that an enforcement action would be taken.
In focus groups (November 1996) conducted by NHTSA with law enforcement officers in five Georgia communities, the standard belt law was well received by local police officers. An important commentary was that the change to standard enforcement had increased the importance of the law for both the motoring public and law enforcement.
Support for standard enforcement is also widespread in the medical community, within state, county and local governments, and among businesses and employers.