WASHINGTON – More Americans than ever are strapping on their seat belts when they hop into the car.
Belt use has reached a record 82 percent this year, an increase of 2 percentage points from last year, the Transportation Department said Friday. The credit goes to growing awareness of safety benefits – and a possible ticket if a police officer pulls a driver over.
In Washington state, the seat belt use rate is 95.2 percent, second only to Hawaii’s 95.3 percent, said Angie Ward, manager of seat belt programs for the state Traffic Safety Commission.
Ward said Washington always has been a leader in seat belt use, posting rates of up to 82 percent even when failure to buckle up was only a secondary offense.
“The fact that safety belts save lives is starting to click with the American people,” Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said.
While more vehicles are becoming equipped with technology to help reduce rollovers and avoid collisions, safety advocates still view the seat belt as the most effective tool in preventing traffic deaths.
Seat belts have been standard equipment in new cars since the mid-1960s, but have been used in wider numbers during the past decade. About 58 percent of Americans buckled up in 1994, and 71 percent were strapping themselves in by 2000.
With a use rate of 82 percent, Mineta said seat belts annually prevent an estimated 15,700 fatalities, 350,000 serious injuries and $67 billion in economic costs linked to deaths and injuries. The 2-point increase saved an estimated 540 lives, he said.
Experts attribute the progress to the use of high-profile media campaigns such as “Click It or Ticket,” more enforcement by police officers and the adoption of primary seat belt laws, which let police stop motorists for failure to use their seat belts.
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