U.S. Department of Transportation

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Printed on recycled paper

TRAFFIC TECH

Technology Transfer Series

Number 271 April 2002

2000 MOTOR VEHICLE OCCUPANT SAFETY SURVEY

SHOWS CONTINUED GAINS IN SEAT BELT USE

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

(NHTSA) conducts a national telephone survey every

two years to monitor the public’s attitudes about seat

belts, child restraints, reasons for their use or non-use,

knowledge of seat belt laws, experience with law

enforcement, and attitudes about risk perception. The

2000 survey consisted of two questionnaires, each given

to a randomly selected sample of about 6,000 persons

age 16 and older, with younger ages oversampled.

Interviewing ran from November 8, 2000 through

January 21, 2001.

Seat Belt Use When Driving

# More than four-fifths (83%) of drivers said they

used their seat belt all the time compared to 79%

two years earlier1

. Among those whose belt

systems did not have an automatic component, all

the time use was lowest among those with lap

systems only (61%) and highest for those with lap

and shoulder systems (83%). For two-piece belt

systems, drivers were much more likely to use their

lap belt all the time if the shoulder belt was manual

(92%) rather than automatic (62%). 

# All the time use was lower for males (79%), drivers

ages 21-24 (76%), pickup truck drivers (74%), and

drivers in rural areas (78%). Nearly the same

proportion of blacks (81%) as whites (83%), but

more Hispanics (88%) than non-Hispanics (83%),

reported all the time use. 

# Eight percent of drivers who said they wore their

belt all the time also said they had not worn their

seat belt while driving in the past day or week.

Almost 70% of most of the time users made the

same admission. These findings are consistent with

previous years.

# There are more adjustable shoulder belts in the

vehicle fleet, with 48% of drivers now saying

they had them, compared to 43% in 1998. If

drivers used the adjustable feature (68%), they

usually were able to make themselves more

comfortable (94%). All the time seat belt use was

slightly higher (85%) among drivers who had

adjustable shoulder belts than among those who

said they did not (82%).

# About one-third of drivers (35%) said they at

least sometimes drive as part of a job or business.

More than half of these drivers (55%) believed

their company had a policy requiring seat belt use

when driving on the job. Drivers’ reported seat

belt use tended to be higher if they thought their

company had a seat belt policy.

# Reported seat belt use was lower among persons

who tended to drive faster. Drivers who said

they tended to pass others (78%) were less likely

to wear their seat belt all the time than those who

tended to drive slower than prevailing traffic

(86%).

1

 Self-reported seat belt use traditionally is higher than observed

seat belt use. The National Occupant Protection Use Survey

(NOPUS) is NHTSA’s official seat belt use measure. 
TRAFFIC TECH

U.S. Department 

of Transportation

National Highway 

Traffic Safety 

Administration

400 Seventh Street, S.W. NTS-31

Washington, DC 20590

TRAFFIC TECH is a publication to disseminate

information about traffic safety programs, including

evaluations, innovative programs, and new

publications. Feel free to copy it as you wish. 

If you would like to receive a copy contact:

Linda Cosgrove, Ph.D., Editor, Evaluation Staff

fax (202) 366-7096

EMAIL: lcosgrove@nhtsa.dot.gov

Reasons For Use And Non-Use

# Safety remained the foremost reason that drivers

gave for wearing seat belts; 64% said that avoiding

serious injury was their most important reason.

# There was no change in the two reasons that drivers

said were most responsible for the times they did

not wear seat belts: they were only going a short

distance (24%) or else forgot to put the seat belt on

(24%). These two reasons were characteristic of

part time seat belt users, who substantially

outnumbered drivers who rarely or never wore their

belts. The primary reasons for non-use among the

rarely or never drivers included discomfort,

concerns about seat belts being dangerous, personal

freedom, absence of habit, and the simple claim

that they just did not feel like wearing them. 

Attitudes About The Usefulness Of Seat Belts

# The vast majority of the public (94%) strongly or

somewhat agreed with the statement “If I were in an

accident, I would want to have my seat belt on.”

# More than one-third of the public (36%) either

strongly (14%) or somewhat (22%) agreed with the

statement “Seat belts are just as likely to harm you

as help you.” As reported belt use increased,

agreement with this statement decreased.

# The fatalistic belief that wearing seat belts did not

matter because “if it is your time to die, you’ll die”

was more prevalent among drivers who reported

lower levels of seat belt use (21% among all the

time users, 33% among most of the time users, 43%

among some of the time users, and 56% among

rare/never users). Blacks (36%) and Hispanics

(30%) were more likely to agree with this statement

than whites (23%) and non-Hispanics (25%).

Seat Belt Laws And Their Enforcement

# Almost nine-in-ten persons (87%) favored laws

that required drivers and front seat passengers to

wear seat belts. Most (61%) also believed that

police should be allowed to stop a vehicle if they

see a seat belt violation when no other traffic laws

are being broken. The proportion of drivers who

reported wearing seat belts all the time was

higher in States where police had this authority

(88%) than States where they did not (80%).

# Fewer than half of drivers (42%) considered it

likely that they would be ticketed if they did not

wear their seat belt at all over the next six

months. Blacks (54%) and Hispanics (57%) were

more likely than whites (40%) and non-Hispanics

(41%) to believe they would be ticketed. Both

groups also showed a higher level of support for

seat belt laws and their enforcement than whites

and non-Hispanics did.

HOW TO ORDER

For a copy of 2000 Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety

Survey (Volume I: Methodology Report; Volume II:

Seat Belt Report) write to the Office of Research and

Traffic Records, NHTSA, NTS-31, 400 Seventh

Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590 or send a fax to

(202) 366-7096 or download www.nhtsa.dot.gov