Results of Transport Canada's September 2006 Survey of Seat Belt Use in Rural Areas of the Country

NHTSA · 2007 · ROSA P / Canada. Transport Canada

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (full text — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This report presents the findings of Transport Canada’s September 2006 observational survey on seat belt usage in rural areas, conducted to support the National Occupant Restraint Program (NORP 2010). The NORP 2010 is a federal, provincial, and territorial partnership aimed at achieving a minimum 95% national seat belt usage rate and reducing road casualties. The study was motivated by the need to monitor progress toward these goals, specifically addressing the lower compliance rates historically observed in rural communities compared to urban centers. The methodology involved observational surveys conducted over the week of September 15–21, 2006, at 249 sites across rural Canada. Rural areas were defined as towns with populations between 1,000 and 10,000, or those over 10,000 not classified as census agglomerations. Observers recorded data on 41,137 light-duty vehicles (passenger cars, minivans, SUVs, and light trucks) and 60,616 occupants during two-hour daylight shifts. For the first time, the survey also collected data on driver cell phone use. The results indicated that an estimated 88.3% of all occupants in rural light-duty vehicles used seat belts, a rate approximately 2.2% lower than the 2005 urban survey. Usage varied significantly by vehicle type, with light truck occupants showing the lowest compliance (81.9%) compared to passenger cars (90.4%) and minivans/SUVs (90.2%). Gender and age also influenced usage; female drivers wore seat belts at a higher rate (92.9%) than male drivers (87.6%), and usage increased with age, rising from 87.7% for drivers under 25 to 90.9% for those 50 and older. Provincial data revealed disparities, with Prince Edward Island (95.5%) and Nova Scotia (90.4%) exceeding the national average, while Yukon (77.6%) and Saskatchewan (82.5%) fell below. Additionally, 2.8% of drivers were observed using cell phones, with the highest rates in Yukon (8.3%) and Prince Edward Island (6.9%). The significance of these findings lies in their role in shaping road safety policy. The data confirms that rural seat belt usage remains below urban levels, highlighting a critical area for intervention. These results provide the evidence base for developing measures to increase rural usage from 88.3% to the target of 95% by 2010, aligning with the broader Road Safety Vision 2010 goal of reducing road fatalities and serious injuries by 30%. The report concludes by noting plans for complementary urban surveys in 2007 to further refine national safety strategies.

Key finding

Seat belt usage in rural Canada was 88.3%, with light trucks exhibiting the lowest compliance at 81.9% and driver cell phone use recorded at 2.8%.

Methodology

field_study

Sample size: 60616

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).

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

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• seat belt use

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Empirical Findings: observational prevalence