Traffic
Safety Facts
1997
Traffic
Safety Facts
1997
U.S. Department of Transportation
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Restraint System Effectiveness
Benefits of Child Restraint Use
The U.S. Department of Transportation's July 1984 rulemaking on automatic occupant protection began a wave of legislative action that resulted in the enactment of safety belt use laws in many states. The goal of those laws is to promote belt use and thereby reduce deaths and injuries inmotor vehicle crashes.
The first mandatory belt use law was enacted in the State of New York in 1984. As of December 1997, 49 states and the District of Columbia had belt use laws in effect. The laws differ from state to state, according to the type and age of the vehicle, occupant seating position, etc.
In 36 of the states with belt use laws in 1997, the law specified secondary enforcement. That is, police officers are permitted to write a citation only after a vehicle is stopped for some other traffic infraction. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia had laws that allowed primary enforcement, enabling officers to stop vehicles and write citations whenever they observe violations of the belt law.
A 1995 NHTSA study, Safety Belt Use Laws: An Evaluation of Primary Enforcement and Other Provisions, indicates that states with primary enforcement safety belt laws achieved significantly higher belt use than did those with secondary enforcement laws. The analysis suggests that belt use among fatally injured occupants was at least 15 percent higher in states with primary enforcement laws.
In 1997, the average observed belt use rate reported by states with secondary enforcement laws was 62 percent, compared to 79 percent in states with primary enforcement laws (including the District of Columbia).
The first mandatory child restraint use law was implemented in the State of Tennessee in 1978. Since 1985, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have had child restraint use laws in effect. These laws also cover various segments of the population.
Restraint System Effectiveness
Research has found that lap/shoulder safety belts, when used, reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50 percent. For light truck occupants, safety belts reduce the risk of fatal injury by 60 percent and moderate-to-critical injury by 65 percent.
Recent NHTSA analyses indicate an overall fatality-reducing effectiveness for air bags of 11 percent.
Research on the effectiveness of child safety seats has found them to reduce fatal injury by 69 percent for infants (less than 1 year old) and by 47 percent for toddlers (1-4 years old).
Starting in 1994, NHTSA revised its method for calculating lives saved by safety belts. The note at the bottom of the following page explains the new method. The estimates in Table 1 and Figure 1 reflect this revision.
In 1997, 32,213 occupants of passenger vehicles (cars, light trucks, vans, and utility vehicles) were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes, 77 percent of the 41,967 traffic fatalities reported for the year.
Among passenger vehicle occupants over 4 years old, safety belts saved an estimated 10,750 lives in 1997.
At the high use rates achieved in other countries (85 percent), safety belts could have saved the lives of 16,088 passenger vehicle occupants over age 4 (that is, an additional 5,338) for the nation as a whole in 1997. If ALL passenger vehicle occupants over age 4 wore safety belts, 20,351 lives (that is, an additional 9,601) could have been saved in 1997.
The 1996 NHTSA study, Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES), linked traffic and medical records in seven states to assess total costs of injury from motor vehicle crashes. The study found that the average inpatient costs for crash victims who were not using safety belts were 55 percent higher than for those who were belted.
Ejection from the vehicle is one of the most injurious events that can happen to a person in a crash. In fatal crashes, 73 percent of passenger car occupants who were totally ejected from the vehicle were killed. Safety belts are effective in preventing total ejections: only 1 percent of the occupants reported to have been using restraints were totally ejected, compared with 20 percent of the unrestrained occupants.In 1995, NHTSA revised its method for calculating lives saved by air bags. The estimates in Table 1 reflect this revision.
Air bags, combined with lap/shoulder safety belts, offer the most effective safety protection available today for passenger vehicle occupants.
It is estimated that, as of 1997, more than 63 million air-bag-equipped passenger vehicles were on the road, including 33 million with dual air bags.
In 1997, an estimated 842 lives were saved by air bags. From 1987 to 1997, a total of 2,663 lives were saved.
Beginning September 1997 (model year 1998), all new passenger cars were required to have driver and passenger air bags, along with manual lap/shoulder safety belts. The same requirement applies to light trucks beginning in September 1998.
Air bags are supplemental protection and are not designed to deploy in all crashes. Most are designed to inflate in a moderate-to-severe frontal crash.
Some crashes at lower speeds may result in injuries, but generally not the serious injuries that air bags are designed to prevent. For this and other reasons, lap/shoulder belts should always be used, even in a vehicle with an air bag.
Children in rear-facing child seats should not be placed in the front seat of vehicles equipped with passenger-side air bags. The impact of a deploying air bag striking a rear-facing child seat could result in injury to the child.
Benefits of Child Restraint Use
In 1997, there were 593 passenger vehicle occupant fatalities among children under 5 years of age. Of these 593 fatalities, an estimated 298 (or 54 percent) were totally unrestrained.
Among children under 5 years old, an estimated 312 lives were saved in 1997 by child restraint use. Of these 312 lives saved, 266 were associated with the use of child safety seats and 46 with the use of adult belts.
At 100 percent child safety seat use for children under 5, an estimated 495 lives (that is, an additional 183) could have been saved in 1997.Over the period 1975 through 1997, an estimated 3,894 lives were saved by child restraints.
According to observational surveys conducted by the states and reported to NHTSA, 69 percent of passenger vehicle occupants used their safety belts in 1997.
The reported restraint use rate among all occupants of passenger cars involved in fatal crashes was 56 percent in 1997. The use rate for drivers was higher (60 percent), and the highest use rate was reported for children age 4 and under (68 percent).
In 1996, NHTSA conducted the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS). The overall observed shoulder belt use rate was 61.5 percent, compared to 58.0 percent observed in 1994.
