Summary of Nighttime Belt Use Studies

Details

• Corporate Creators:
  United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Office of Behavioral Safety Research
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Manual safety belts
  • Night
  • Nighttime crashes
  • Seat belt usage
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT-HS-810-774
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.21949/1525609
• Resource Type:
  Research Paper
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Abstract:
  Despite gains in the daytime national seat belt rate over the past few years, reaching 81 percent in 2006 (Glassbrenner and Ye, 2007), the number of fatalities has remained basically unchanged. One reason for this may be that many fatalities occur at night when seat belt use is much lower than daytime. In 2004, for example, 25 percent of front seat occupant fatalities occurred between the hours of 10:00 pm and 3:59 am. While this window of time represents 25 percent of the hours in a day, only about 12 to 15 percent of daily vehicle traffic occurs during this time (Hallenbeck, Smith, & Cornell-Martinez, 1997). Increasing seat belt usage among occupants traveling at night could substantially lessen injury and fatality rates among passenger vehicle occupants. Recent research by NHTSA and others shows a significant gap between observed day and night belt use.
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/1820/dot_1820_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 571.60 KB]
• Collection(s):
  NHTSA - Behavioral Safety Research
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f63da248e465574f590e9ad20efea6fec67304e08ce6374792ba24b8c3b653459baebd4a5b3126ae5c9b16577c0851d8b097b1f580f163cc8663b8209beee0d7