Buckling Up Technologies to Increase Seat Belt Use -- Special Report 278 (2004) / Chapter Skim
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3 Historical Experience with Seat Belt Use Technologies
3 Historical Experience with Seat Belt Use Technologies
Pages 42-52
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From page 42... ...
EARLY SEAT BELT USE TECHNOLOGIES Early seat belt use technologies were introduced as alternatives or in terim measures to the primary and preferred approach of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for increasing seat belt use at that time -- introduction of passive restraint systems.1 On January 1, 1972, NHTSA required passenger vehicles for sale in the United States to be equipped with passive restraints protecting vehicle occupants in frontal barrier crashes up to and including 30 mph, or alternatively, with a buzzerlight reminder system.
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From page 43... ...
. When Congress passed legislation prohibiting NHTSA from requiring either the ignition interlock or continuous buzzer systems as described in Chapter 1, NHTSA changed Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS)
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From page 44... ...
a nondetachable shoulder and lap belt with an inertia reel on the shoulder belt that locks and restrains the wearer if the car stops suddenly, and a belt reminder based on the 1972 NHTSA standard with a logic system that detects whether the driver is seated; and (c) a nondetachable shoulder and lap belt with an inertia reel on the shoulder belt, and a warning, logic, and starterinterlock system based on the NHTSA 1973 standard (Cohen and Brown 1973, i)
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From page 45... ...
Drivers in 48 percent of MY 1974 passenger vehicles equipped with ignition interlock systems were using lap and shoulder belts, and 11 percent were using lap belts only, for a total use rate of 59 percent. Only 7 percent of drivers in MY 1973 passenger vehicles equipped with the buzzerlight systems were using lap and shoulder belts, and 21 percent were using lap belts only, for a total use rate of 28 percent.
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From page 46... ...
Of these drivers, 12.8 percent used lap and shoulder belts leaving the rental car terminal. Of the drivers of vehicles equipped with the FMVSS 208 8-second chime and light warning sys tems, 13.1 percent were buckled -- an insignificant difference.
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From page 47... ...
The system had initial acceptance, but use of the manual lap belt was low due to inconvenience of access and forgetfulness of the occupant. The most popular passive belt designs involved a motorized shoulder belt that acted on a track running along the roof rail (Johannessen 1987, 3)
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From page 48... ...
While voluntary belt wearing has now in creased to 75 percent nationally with various measures discussed else where in this report, the historic issue of technological solutions to encourage belt wearing has resurfaced. Seat Belt Use Laws The 1984 Dole decision also encouraged states to pass mandatory seat belt use laws, with the proviso that the automatic protection require ments might be eliminated if, by April 1989, the Secretary of Trans portation found that two-thirds of the nation's population was covered by state-mandated seat belt use laws (Kratzke 1995, 8)
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From page 49... ...
Primary belt use laws allow a police officer to stop a motorist solely for not wearing a seat belt; secondary belt use laws allow a police officer to issue a seat belt citation to an unbuckled motorist only after the motorist has been stopped for another traffic violation (Glassbrenner 2002, 5)
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From page 50... ...
. The comprehensive Canadian Selective Traffic Enforcement Program model, which combined training of law enforcement officials, high-visibility enforcement campaigns, and pre and postbelt use surveys and public education efforts, was introduced in North Carolina in 1993.
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While highly publicized enforcement ef forts have contributed to recent increases in observed use, weak state seat belt use laws with secondary enforcement provisions and low fines hinder progress. Seat belts in modern vehicles are easier to use and more comfortable than those of the 1970s.
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From page 52... ...
1990. Evaluating the North Carolina Safety Belt Wearing Law.
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