More than 400 crash victims could have lived — if they’d buckled their rear seat belt
803 people died last year riding in back seats while not wearing their seat belts. Had they buckled up, more than half would have survived, says a new study released Monday.
Part of the problem: Twenty states have no requirement that rear seat passengers wear a belt.
And people are clicking the belts less in the rear seats, notably because they don’t see a need on short trips, they forget or they’re uncomfortable doing so, according to the nonpartisan Governors Highway Safety Association, which conducted the study.
Last year 76 percent of rear seat riders used a belt, down two percentage points from a 2013 report.
Of the unbelted fatalities, 426 were in passenger cars and 377 were in light trucks and vans.
Had those killed been wearing seat belts, about 187 of those in cars and 275 in light trucks and vans would have lived, the study found.
Jim Hedlund, an Ithaca, New York-based consultant who wrote the report, devised the numbers by looking at federal estimates showing lap-shoulder belts are 44% effective in preventing deaths in rear seats and 73% effective in light trucks and vans.
Usage data is compiled from three general sources: Observing cars and light trucks on the road, passenger surveys and police crash reports.
In states with rear seat belt requirements, usage in fatal crashes varied. In 2017 and 2018 combined in California, 76.5% of rear seat occupants 8 and over in fatal crashes were belted, mirroring the national average.
The figure dropped below that average in other states with the same requirements, including 73.3% in South Carolina, 66.3% in Texas, 66% in Washington and 53.3% in Mississippi. In Florida, which has no rear belt law, the figure was 66.6%
In states with secondary laws, meaning the belt laws can be enforced only when motorists are stopped for other reasons, North Carolina’s figure was 62.2% and Idaho’s was 51.6%.
Part of the reason for the differing percentages: “On average, belt use increases as urbanization increases,” the report says.
Front seats have become much safer, and not only because of seat belts. In recent years, the report found, automakers have been making front seats safer, notably with airbags.
And front seat riders routinely tend to buckle their belts. Front seat belt use was 89.7 percent in 2017, well above the rear seat figure, said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Safety in the back seat is tougher. “You can’t put an airbag in the back of the front seats,” said Hedlund.
NHTSA is considering requiring warning systems that would alert drivers of certain vehicles that their rear seat riders haven’t buckled their seat belts.
Yet many states are reluctant to make rear belts mandatory, or make usage a “primary” offense. That means that a law enforcement official could stop someone not wearing a belt and is the law in 19 states and the District of Columbia.
In 11 states, rear seat belts are considered only a secondary offense, meaning that unbelted occupants can be ticketed only if law enforcement has another reason to stop the vehicle.
Since GHSA’s 2013 belt report, two states have enacted rear seat belt laws, Alabama and Mississippi.
Mississippi’s law went into effect in 2017. Previously, it required belts for front seat riders and most young children. Now anyone not wearing a belt is subject to a $25 fine.
Alabama’s law, which makes being unbelted a secondary violation, went into effect September 1.
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 3:01 AM with the headline "More than 400 crash victims could have lived — if they’d buckled their rear seat belt."
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