May 2009

Seatbelt Usage in the United States

Learn about NHTSA's National Enforcement Mobilization Campaign.

Seat belts save lives! A Traffic Safety Facts Research Note published by the National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA), an office of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), provides a summary of seat belt usage rates in the United States:

Seat belts saved an estimated 15,147 lives in 2007, when the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) national belt use estimate was 82 percent.

The publication examines the potential benefit if seat belt use rose to at least 90 percent in all states:

An estimated 1,652 additional lives would have been saved had this increase in seat belt use occurred [in 2007], and nearly 40,000 more nonfatal injuries would have been prevented, resulting in additional cost savings of about $5.2 billion dollars.

California ranked fourth for seat belt usage in 2007 with 94.6 percent. Read the publication and find out how your state rates in seat belt usage.

Publication Link: DOT HS 811 140 (pdf)