A survey of child safety seat and safety belt use in Virginia : the 1987 update.

Stoke, Charles B · 1988 · ROSA P / Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC)

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Summary

This report presents the findings of observational surveys conducted in Virginia from 1983 to 1987 to assess safety belt and child safety seat usage. The study was motivated by the passage of the Child Safety Seat Law in 1982 and aimed to determine the law’s impact on restraint use, establish baseline data for evaluating future mandatory belt laws, and identify user characteristics to guide safety programs. The research utilized observational techniques at signalized intersections in four major urban areas (Roanoke, Northern Virginia, Richmond, and Tidewater) and, in 1987, nine additional small towns across western, valley, and southside regions. Observers recorded restraint use by drivers and passengers, categorizing occupants by age, sex, seat position, and time of day. A significant methodological change in 1987 involved stricter criteria for identifying correctly used child safety seats, following training to address concerns that previous observers were too lenient. The results indicate a consistent yearly increase in safety belt usage in urban areas from 1983 to 1987. In 1987, 40.4% of urban drivers and 32.9% of passengers used some form of restraint, representing a 146% and 120% increase, respectively, since 1983. Statewide rates, combining urban and town data, were 34.3% for drivers and 28.9% for passengers. Usage in towns was significantly lower, averaging 20.2% for drivers and 19.5% for passengers. Child safety seat usage remained high, with over two-thirds of infants restrained annually. However, the rate of *correctly* used seats dropped from approximately 68–69% in previous years to 44% in 1987, a decline attributed to the stricter observation criteria rather than actual misuse. When combined, correct and incorrect usage rates remained stable at roughly 70%. Demographic analysis revealed that female drivers had higher usage rates than males, and young adults (17–30 years) showed the greatest percentage increase in belt use, reaching 42.4% in 1987. Usage patterns were strongly correlated among occupants; when drivers wore belts, approximately 75% of front-seat passengers also did so, whereas over 88% of passengers did not wear belts when the driver was unbelted. Furthermore, belt usage by adults was highest when infants were correctly restrained and lowest when infants were unrestrained. The study concluded that the Child Safety Seat Law had a major positive influence on infant restraint use and contributed to a spillover effect increasing general belt usage. Virginia’s voluntary usage rates approached those of states with mandatory laws. The authors recommended directing future safety efforts toward residents of towns and rural areas, where usage rates remained low.

Key finding

Urban driver safety belt usage increased from 17.3% in 1983 to 40.4% in 1987, while statewide child safety seat usage remained stable at approximately 70% despite a drop in correctly installed seats to 44% in 1987 due to stricter observation criteria.

Methodology

field_study

Provenance

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Topics

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• seat belt use
• child passenger safety

Information type

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• Empirical Findings: observational prevalence