Seat Belt Use in 2007--Overall Results

Seat belt use in 2007 stood at 82%, a slight gain from 81% use in 2006. This result is from the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) which provides the only nationwide probability-based observed data on seat belt use in the United States. The NOPUS is conducted annually by the National Center for Statistics and Analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The 2007 survey also found the following: (a) Belt use in States in which motorists can be pulled over solely for not using seat belts rose 2 percentage points to 87% in 2007. There is now a 14-percentage-point difference between use in these States and those with weaker enforcement laws; and (b) Belt use in the West stood at 93%, and use jumped 4 percentage points in the Northeast to 78% in 2007. Seat belt use has risen steadily since NOPUS began collecting data in 1994, and this has been accompanied by a steady decline in passenger vehicle occupant fatalities per mile traveled.