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 Researchers analyzed fatalities from 2001 to 2010 and found states
with so-called primary seat belt laws - which allow traffic stops
just for failure to wear seat belts - had death rates 17 percent
lower than states with so-called secondary seat belt laws, which
permit tickets only in conjunction with other violations.
“If a person thinks they are unlikely to be ticketed for any reason
when in a car, then they also think odds they would get cited for
not wearing a seat belt would be extremely low,” said lead
researcher Dr. Lois Lee from Boston Children’s Hospital.
Lee and colleagues identified 283,183 crash fatalities among vehicle
occupants age 10 and older over the course of the study period.
Younger passengers were excluded because they might have been using
child safety seats or booster seats instead of seat belts.
In 2001, on average, out of every 100,000 people, 14.6 died in a
motor vehicle accident, the study found. That year, 16 states had
primary seat belt laws and 33 had secondary seat belt laws.
By 2010, 30 states had primary seat belt laws and the average
fatality rate dropped to 9.7 people per 100,000.
That year, states with primary and secondary laws didn’t differ
significantly in the percentages of vehicles older than five years
old involved in crashes, speeding-related accidents, crashes due to
bad weather or drunk driving collisions.
But the percentage of crashes in which no restraint was used was
significantly lower in states with primary laws than in those with
secondary laws.
At the same time, some people who are more prone to skip buckling up
– such as men, drivers under 24, and residents of rural areas – had
higher self-reported seat belt use in states with primary laws.
“The take home message is, regardless of what type of law your state
has, you and all your passengers should wear a seat belt every time
with every ride in the car since seat belts are the most effective
means of decreasing injury and death in the event of a car crash,”
Lee said by email.
One limitation of the study is that it lacked data on deaths that
occurred more than a month after the crash, the researchers
acknowledge in Annals of Internal Medicine. It also didn’t assess
injury prevention linked to seat belts and had no data on how
aggressively the seat belt laws were enforced.
“Seat belt use is a proven method to reduce motor vehicle occupant
injuries,” said Grant Baldwin, an injury prevention researcher at
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who co-authored
an editorial accompanying the study.
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More traffic stops, and steeper fines and penalties for tickets can
both help encourage seat belt use, Grant said by email. Previous
research has also shown that seat belt use increased by
approximately 10 percentage points when states changed from
secondary to primary seat belt laws, he said.
In past surveys, people who rarely or never use seat belts or child
safety seats have said they would use the devices if it was required
by law, noted Raymond Bingham, a professor at the University of
Michigan's Transportation Research Institute in Ann Arbor who wasn't
involved in the study.
“People give all sorts of reasons for not wearing their seat belts,”
he said. “Some say they’re uncomfortable, some believe myths that
seat belts cause more serious injuries, others just don’t want to be
told what to do by the government.”
Often, the threat of a ticket is enough to get many people to buckle
up, as long as fines are steep enough that people want to avoid
them, Bingham said by email.
“What we have seen for years is that when secondary laws are passed
in states that do not require seat belt use, usage rates go up
considerably,” he said. “Another sizable jump is seen when states
transition from secondary to primary enforcement. This is most
likely attributable to people not waiting to get a ticket and
feeling like their chances are much less, which they are, when a
secondary law is in place.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1i46lF7 Annals of Internal Medicine, online
June 22, 2015.
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