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Seat Belt Use in 2008 - Use Rates in the States

In 2008, seat belt use in the United States ranged from 55.7 percent in American Samoa to 97.2 percent in Michigan. These results are from probability-based observational surveys conducted by 50 States, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories in accordance with criteria established by the National Highway Trafic Safety Administration to ensure reliable results. Compliance with the criteria is veriied annually by NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis.

The 2008 State and Territory surveys also found the following:

• Sixteen States and Territories achieved use rates of 90 percent or higher—Michigan, Hawaii, Washington, Or- egon, California, Maryland, Iowa, Puerto Rico, New Jersey, Delaware, Indiana, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, Illinois, and District of Columbia.
• Jurisdictions with stronger belt enforcement laws continue to exhibit generally higher use rates than those with weaker laws. Maine’s primary enforcement seat belt law took effect on September 17, 2007, but citations were issued beginning April 1, 2008. This State saw an increase in use from 79.8 percent in 2007 to 83.0 percent in 2008.

Seat belt use rates in the States, U.S. Territories, the District of Columbia, and nationwide from 2001-2008 are listed in the following table. Rates in jurisdictions with primary belt enforcement during the calendar year of the survey are shaded in the table. However, the law might not have taken effect when the survey was conducted.

National Seat Belt Use Rate

Seat belt use nationwide was 83 percent in 2008, as measured by NHTSA’s National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS). NOPUS provides NHTSA’s oficial measure of nationwide use because it is the only probability-based observational survey of seat belt use in the United States. Additionally, NOPUS does not employ sampling frame exemptions allowed of the States and Territories in 23 CFR Part 1340 (namely, the omission of up to 15 percent of low- population areas and the permission to observe data solely in vehicles stopped at stop signs or stoplights), and so provides a more accurate measure of nationwide use than would be obtained by combining the use rates from the States and Territories.

For questions regarding the above reported data, contact Yuan Yan Chen at 202-493-0241, or Tony Jianqiang Ye general information on highway trafic safety may be accessed online at http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/ CMSWeb/index.aspx.