Results of Transport Canada’s September 2002 Survey of Seat Belt Use in Rural Areas of the Country

NHTSA · 2003 · ROSA P / Canada. Transport Canada

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Summary

This report presents the findings of Transport Canada’s September 2002 observational survey, which measured seat belt usage in rural areas across Canada. The study was motivated by evidence that the majority of motor vehicle fatalities in rural regions involve unrestrained occupants and by prior data indicating low usage rates in rural Alberta. The survey served as a component of the National Occupant Restraint Program (NORP 2010), an initiative under Road Safety Vision 2010 aimed at achieving a minimum 95% national seat belt usage rate. This was the first survey to exclusively measure seat belt usage in rural Canada, defined as towns with populations between 1,000 and 10,000 located outside census metropolitan areas. The methodology involved observational data collection over the week of September 23–29, 2002. Researchers monitored front-seat occupants of passenger cars, light pickup trucks, and minivans at 124 sites. Each site underwent two separate two-hour observation periods during daylight hours. In total, the study observed 35,402 vehicles and 48,115 occupants. The results indicated that an estimated 85.0% of front-seat occupants in light-duty vehicles used seat belts. Usage rates varied significantly by jurisdiction, with Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Saskatchewan, and Ontario meeting or exceeding the national average. Conversely, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, and all territories fell below the average, with Nunavut recording the lowest rate at 22.9%. Vehicle type also influenced usage; passenger cars and vans showed high compliance at 88.2%, while light trucks had a notably lower rate of 77.5%. Gender and age were also significant factors. Female drivers exhibited higher usage rates (89.6%) than male drivers (83.1%), a trend consistent across all vehicle types and provinces. Additionally, usage rates increased with age, rising from 81.5% for drivers under 25 to 88.9% for those aged 50 and older. The significance of these findings lies in their role in supporting the NORP 2010 goal of increasing rural seat belt usage from 85% to 95% by 2010. The data provides a baseline to build a business case for adopting measures to reduce casualties from restraint non-use and rural roadway crashes. The report concludes by noting that a complementary survey of urban communities and their rural fringes was scheduled for fall 2003 to further inform national road safety initiatives.

Key finding

An estimated 85.0 percent of rural Canadian front-seat occupants wore seat belts, with light-truck occupants lowest at 77.5 percent versus 88.2 percent for cars and vans.

Methodology

field_study

Sample size: 48115

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• seat belt use

Information type

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• Empirical Findings: observational prevalence