Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Correspondence should be sent to J. All authors contributed to the concept and survey development, designed the analysis plan, determined study objectives, interpreted data, contributed substantially to article drafts, and approved the final version of the article. Our data source was the National Young Driver Survey, which included a national representative sample of high-school drivers.
We used multivariate, log-linear regression analyses to assess associations between safety belt laws and belt use. The apparent reduction in belt use among teenagers as they progressed from learner to unrestricted license holder occurred in only secondary enforcement states. Groups reporting particularly low use included African American drivers, rural residents, academically challenged students, and those driving pickup trucks.
The results provided further evidence for enactment of primary enforcement provisions in safety belt laws because primary laws are associated with higher safety belt use rates and lower crash-related injuries and mortality.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and acquired disability for teenagers in the United States, 1 and lack of safety belt use is a major contributing factor for injury.
Safety belt laws have been enacted by states since and vary in the nature of their provisions. The remaining 24 states with safety belt laws considered nonuse of a safety belt a secondary offense and permitted police to issue a ticket for belt nonuse only if the vehicle was stopped for another offense, such as speeding.
