2006 Motor Vehicle Occupant Protection Facts
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, published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), addresses the critical issue of motor vehicle occupant protection for children, youth, and young adults in the United States. Motivated by the high rates of preventable deaths and injuries among these demographics, the document synthesizes data from 2006 to underscore the necessity of legislation, enforcement, and public education regarding occupant restraints. The report aims to provide a comprehensive resource for policymakers and advocates to promote the use of child safety seats, booster seats, and seat belts as lifelong habits. The analysis relies on data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the General Estimates System (GES), and the 2007 National Occupant Protection Use Survey. The study categorizes young people into three groups: children (birth to age 7), youth (8 to 15), and young adults (16 to 20). It examines crash fatalities, injury rates, restraint usage statistics, and the economic burdens associated with motor vehicle crashes. The report also evaluates the impact of state-level laws, distinguishing between primary and secondary enforcement regimes and assessing the prevalence of booster seat mandates. Key findings reveal that in 2006, 30,521 passenger vehicle occupants were killed, with 6,379 being young people from birth to age 20. Restraint use significantly mitigates risk; seat belts saved an estimated 15,383 lives among occupants over age 4, while child restraints saved 425 lives for children under 5. Despite this, 55% of all fatalities involved unrestrained occupants. Among young adults aged 16 to 20, 63% of those killed were not wearing seat belts. The data highlights a strong correlation between driver and child restraint use; for instance, when drivers were unrestrained, 90% of fatally injured children aged 13 to 15 were also unrestrained, compared to 48% when drivers were restrained. Additionally, misuse of child restraints was prevalent, with approximately 73% of observed cases involving improper installation or harness usage. Primary enforcement laws were found to be more effective, with seat belt use rates 14 percentage points higher in states with primary laws compared to those with secondary laws. The significance of these findings lies in the identification of specific gaps in protection and policy. The report concludes that closing legislative gaps, particularly regarding booster seat requirements for children aged 4 to 7 and primary enforcement of seat belt laws, can save young lives. It emphasizes that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for individuals aged 2 to 34 and that the economic cost of crashes, including medical expenses and lost productivity, is substantial. By demonstrating the efficacy of restraints and the influence of enforcement policies, the report provides evidence-based arguments for strengthening occupant protection laws and improving public compliance to reduce the disproportionate toll of traffic crashes on young populations.
Key finding
Primary enforcement seat belt laws result in an 87 percent usage rate, which is 14 percentage points higher than the 73 percent usage rate observed in states with secondary enforcement laws.
Methodology
dataset
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).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 24 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
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.
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