Forty years ago Wednesday, New Yorkers became the first car occupants in the U.S. to face penalties for not buckling up, so large numbers started fastening their seat belts. Through some starts and stops along the way, the rest of the nation followed suit.
Seat belt use in New York state rose from 16% to 57% in the first four months the law was enforced after it was implemented Dec. 1, 1984, with a one-month grace period that postponed fines of up to $50 until the new year.
By the end of 1985, as the federal government provided funding incentives, nearly all state legislatures had introduced a mandatory seat belt law for adults, and 14 of them had passed bills, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Today, compliance with seat belt requirements has climbed to nearly 92% nationwide, and New Hampshire is the only state that doesn’t mandate their use at least for the driver and front-seat passengers, the subjects of the initial laws. In addition, 29 states and Washington, D.C., also demand rear-seat passengers “click it or ticket.’’
More than 800,000 lives saved
A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed that from 1968 through 2019 the agency’s safety standards prevented more than 860,000 deaths on the road, in addition to 49 million nonfatal injuries. Nearly half of the saved lives were attributed to seat belts.
“The research shows that technologies such as seat belts, air bags, electronic stability control, improved brakes and many other safety features are saving lives as intended,” NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman said in statement.
Ten years after New York Gov. Mario Cuomo – a strong advocate for seat belts – signed his state’s landmark legislation, observational surveys showed 58% of Americans in passenger vehicles buckled up, and the figure has mostly risen steadily since then.
That may obscure the initial rejection of the safety restraints. A Washington Post story in July 1984 noted a new poll revealed 65% of respondents opposed laws such as the one New York approved.
Joseph Schofer, a professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University who specializes in transportation issues, told USA TODAY the increased compliance is much more the result of educational campaigns than strict enforcement, which has dwindled over the years.
The role of schools, doctors and the media
Schofer credits teachers, pediatricians and media messaging with underscoring the importance of car restraints for children and adults.
“It has become part of the culture, and I think you can attribute it to doctors and schools and all kinds of messaging that get into people’s heads, and they grow up and remember that,’’ said Schofer, who has served on national and Chicago-area transportation committees. “The kids in some family situations will be the ones who say, ‘I have to wear my seat belt,’ or, ‘You have to wear your seat belt.’’’
Despite the progress, adherence to seat belt mandates in the U.S. lags behind what’s common in European countries, especially the likes of Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands, where enforcement is stricter and compliance rates are in the 95-98% range, Schofer said.
Regulations for seat belt use in the U.S. fall under the jurisdiction of states, and 35 of them have what are known as primary laws, which allow law enforcement officers to issue a citation to an unbuckled driver or passenger without another offense being involved. In the 14 states with secondary laws, unrestrained occupants can only be ticketed if another traffic infraction has been committed.
That partially limits enforcement in a country with a strong ethos of personal freedom. Schofer said he recently worked on a study that indicated much of the resistance to traffic laws stems from such a culture.
“The opposition I hear is, ‘I don’t want the government telling me what to do,’’’ he said. “The subtext of that is, ‘I’d rather kill myself than listen to good advice.’’’
Fatal decision not to buckle up
The consequences can indeed be fatal. The NHTSA said about half of the 25,000-plus people killed in passenger vehicles in 2022 were not wearing a seat belt, a remarkable figure considering the low percentage of unbuckled drivers and passengers.
The number of Americans killed in all vehicles yearly typically hovers around 40,000. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers and passengers on the front seat who use their shoulder and lap belts reduce their chances of dying in a car crash by 45%, and by 60% if riding in an SUV, van or pickup.
Air bags are a supplement, not a substitute, for seat belts, says the NHTSA, pointing out unrestrained occupants can end up getting ejected, which the agency called “almost always deadly.’’
Dr. Gerald O’Neill, medical director at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center trauma center in Philadelphia, said in his 15-year tenure he has noticed a slight uptick in seat belt use among car crash victims, who sometimes arrive at the facility after being thrown from a vehicle, smashed against the windshield or flung around the inside.
“A lot of those things are directly related to whether they were wearing a seat belt or not, and they put them in a totally different risk category,’’ he said. “You definitely see greater severity of injury and a higher risk of death, and also more frequent injury from the no-seat belt group.’’
Because of the legal changes New York state kicked off 40 years ago, there are now fewer members of that group.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Click it or ticket: Seat belts now ‘part of the culture’ in the US