Learn More:

	Seat Belt Laws
	State Belt Use Rates (2000-2006)
	Child Passenger Safety Laws
	GHSA's Occupant Protection Policy (see pgs. 9-11)

Occupant protection systems are safety features designed to protect occupants of motor vehicles in the event of a crash. Occupant protection systems can be 'active,' as in the case of seat belts and child restraints, or 'passive,' as in the case of air bags.

Seat Belts

The first seat belt use law was enacted in New York in 1985. Over time other states followed suit and began enacting use laws. There are two types of seat belt laws:

• Primary (standard) seat belt laws allow law enforcement officers to stop a vehicle and issue a citation when the officer simply observes an unbelted driver or passenger.
  
• Secondary seat belt laws allow law enforcement officials stop a vehicle and issue a citation only after the officer cites the offender for another infraction.

GHSA strongly encourages all states to adopt and enforce primary seat belt laws. Today, the trend is moving in this direction. Being able to ticket a seat belt violation in and of itself has resulted in big increases in the use rates in many states. Visit GHSA's Seat Belt Laws page for current seat belt laws in each state.

Seat belt use rates have steadily increased over time, particularly in the past decade in response to a national push to increase use. States routinely conduct use rate studies and provide the data used to determine a national use rate. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 1994 the overall observed shoulder belt use rate was 58 percent. A decade later that number had risen to 80 percent, and in 2005 the national average was 82 percent.

Many factors have contributed to the increase in seat belt usage. These include:

• Upgrading secondary use laws to primary use laws. Currently, 26 states, D.C. and Guam have enacted primary seat belt use laws.
• Upgrade seating positions affected. Some state laws cover only front-seat occupants and some exempt certain classes of vehicles (pick-ups or vans, for example). Some laws allow occupants to ride in cargo areas of pick-ups or are silent on the issues. While no national standard exists, safety agencies collaborated on language in a model seat belt law that specifies every passenger having a seat belt properly secured at all times. States are encouraged to pattern seat belt laws using the model language.
• Increasing fines. According to NHTSA, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests higher fines are associated with higher use rates. This could be partly due in part to drivers requiring all passengers to "buckle up" because the consequences for not doing so are significant. In many states, the fine is notably small, making not buckling up seem less important, both to drivers and to law enforcement officers.
• Installing seat belt reminders in vehicles. In 2006, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reported that evidence is accumulating that seat belt reminders are effective, especially with part-time seat belt users. Honda and Ford vehicles in particular are going well beyond the federal government's modest 4-8 second reminder requirement in utilizing reminders that last up to 5 minutes.
• Addressing racial and ethnic profiling concerns. As more and more states have enacted primary belt laws without any evidence of differential enforcement, concerns by minority groups have diminished.
• Education. Education is playing a large role in helping the traveling public understand how seat belts save lives and reduce injuries in traffic collisions. More people are willing to use all types of occupant protection at all times, regardless of what the law requires.

Child Restraint Systems

In 1971, the federal government established minimum standards for child safety seats and restraint systems to reduce the number of children killed or injured in motor vehicle crashes. Today all states and territories have enacted mandatory child passenger safety laws, although requirements of the laws vary widely. See GHSA's Child Passenger Safety Laws for the current provisions in each state's law.

Traffic safety agencies have collaborated on language of a model law for child restraint systems. According to NHTSA and many highway safety organizations, a strong child passenger safety law should:

• Cover all children up to age 16 in all seating positions
• Be primary enforcement
• Explicitly require all children to be in age- and size-appropriate restraint systems (infant, child safety seat, booster seat)
  
• Require children younger than 13 riding in a vehicle with rear passenger seating to be properly secured in rear seats, unless all available rear seats are in use by children younger than 13
• Include all vehicles equipped with seat belts; no vehicles (pick-ups, taxis, rental cars) should be exempt
• Make the driver responsible for restraint use by children under 16, regardless of the relationship to the child
• Allow passengers to ride only in seating areas equipped with seat belts, which includes prohibiting passengers from riding in the cargo areas of pick-ups
• Assure children with special needs use proper restraints
• Contain no exemptions that allow children to be unrestrained while the vehicle is in motion, such as allowing children to be unsecured if all seat belts are in use; for attending to the personal needs of the child; allowing medical waivers; exempting out-of-state vehicles, drivers and children; and exempting drivers who are not the vehicle owner or who are not related to the child

Air Bags

Air bags are considered to be a passive occupant protection system in that they do not require the driver or passenger to engage the system. Although there have been air bag-like devices for airplanes since the 1940s, air bags for automobiles were not introduced until 1971 as an experimental option, becoming available for general sale to the public in 1973. However, early air bag systems had design issues resulting in fatalities caused solely by the air bag. Air bags were once again offered as options beginning in 1984, and became standard equipment beginning in some models in 1988. Driver side air bags became mandatory in 1991, and since 1998, driver and passenger air bags have been mandatory equipment in all passenger cars. Requirements for light trucks and vans followed in 1999. Side-impact air bags are now being seen in more models.

Air bags supplement the seat belt by reducing the chance that the occupant's head and upper body will strike some part of the vehicle's interior. They also help reduce the risk of serious injury by distributing crash forces more evenly across the occupant's body.

Over the years data analyzed by NHTSA and IIHS have consistently demonstrated the combination of lap-shoulder seat belts and air bags reduce driver and passenger fatalities by nearly 50 percent.