Public Support and Awareness Occupant Protection Laws

In 2000, NHTSA conducted its Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety Survey (MVOSS) among a national sample of approximately 6,000 people age 16 and older to determine attitudes, knowledge, and reported behaviors regarding occupant protection. The results were enormously positive (see below). The next such survey was conducted in 2003, the results of which will be reported in the Buckle Up America Seventh Report to Congress and Fifth Report to the President, which will cover campaign activities from January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2003.

Support for Safety Belt Laws and Enforcement

• The vast majority of the public (87 percent) favored laws that require drivers and front-seat passengers to wear safety belts.
  
  
• Among persons who supported front safety belt laws, 78 percent also supported applying safety belt laws to back-seat adult passengers.
  
  
• About three-fifths (62 percent) supported fines for drivers who did not wear safety belts. Support for fines was greater among Hispanics (68 percent) compared with African Americans (62 percent) and whites (62 percent). Among those who supported fines, 45 percent favored fines of $100 or more for a repeat safety belt law violation.
  
  
• Respondents were asked how they would likely react to getting a ticket for a safety belt violation. The interviewers gave respondents two choices and asked which was more likely: that they would believe they deserved the ticket because they broke the law, or that they would believe the ticket was undeserved because wearing a safety belt should be a personal choice. According to the survey data, 70 percent would be more likely to believe that they deserved the ticket. Hispanics (76 percent) and African Americans (73 percent) were more likely than whites (69 percent) to answer that they likely would feel they deserved the ticket.
  
  
• Overall, 61 percent of the population surveyed believed that law enforcement officers should be allowed to stop a vehicle if they observe only a safety belt use violation (primary enforcement).
  
  
• Perhaps not surprisingly, support for primary enforcement was higher in primary enforcement States (70 percent). However, even in States with secondary enforcement, the majority (53 percent) favored primary enforcement.
  
  
• Overall support for primary enforcement was greatest among Hispanics (72 percent), followed by African Americans (68 percent), and whites (59 percent).

Support for Child Passenger Safety Laws

• Nearly three in five (58 percent) believed that the police should give a ticket at every opportunity for violations of child safety seat laws. Almost as many (56 percent) believed that the fine should be $50 or more.
  
  
• 94 percent agreed that children should be required by law to wear safety belts once they have outgrown child safety seats; only 3 percent disagreed.

These data are supported by a survey of 800 adult drivers conducted by the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign in 2000. The survey found that 70 percent of the respondents become angry when they see unbuckled children in a car, and 78 percent agreed with the following statement: “People who fail to buckle up their child passengers should be considered guilty of child endangerment.”

Support for Primary Laws Among Organizations Representing Diverse Populations
The Congressional Black Caucus has stated that increasing safety belt use among African Americans is an “urgent national health priority,” and the National Urban League has expressed its support for primary safety belt laws. The National Black Caucus of State Legislators and the National Conference of Black Mayors have also expressed support for strong laws that increase safety belt use and include safeguards for uniform enforcement.

Recognizing the contribution that primary laws make to safety belt use among all groups, many minority group legislators have supported primary law upgrades in their States. Some of these legislators have testified publicly that following their upgrades to primary safety belt laws, they have seen neither backlash in their communities nor evidence of differential enforcement of the new laws.

ASPIRA, a national organization dedicated to the education and leadership development of Hispanic youth, also has expressed its support for primary safety belt legislation. ASPIRA passed a resolution supporting primary enforcement of State safety belt and child safety seat use laws and efforts to promote compliance with such laws.