Seat belt survey brings good news

The latest TRL (Transport Research Laboratory) survey of car seat belt use was carried out in April and has produced some encouraging data.

In all, some 27,675 cars were observed, carrying 7,833 passengers in the front and 4,003 in the rear.

With regard to rear seat passengers, 66 per cent of those over the age of 14 years were wearing a belt, compared to 57 per cent in October 2002. The figure for those under the age of 14 has also risen, from 90 per cent to 92 per cent, in the same period.

With regard to drivers and front seat passengers, rates have also increased. For drivers, the figure has risen from 90 per cent to 93 per cent between October 2002 and April 2004, and in the case of front seat passengers the figure has risen from 92 per cent to 94 per cent.

In all age groups, seat belt wearing among females is higher than among males.

One factor that influences the wearing rate is the speed limit. Rates remain higher on non-built up roads (where the speed limit exceeds 40 mph) than on built up roads (where the speed limit is at most 40 mph).

The survey also included vans. The wearing rates were slightly higher than were found in the previous survey - 67 per cent for van drivers and 53 per cent for van passengers. The survey again recorded drivers’ use of mobile phones as they passed the observers, and found that the use of hand-held phones had halved since the October 2003 survey.