Seat belt use among African Americans, Hispanics, and Whites

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0001-4575(01)00050-1Get rights and content

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigated seat belt use among White, Black, and Hispanic drivers, in cities in which standard enforcement of the belt use law is permitted (primary enforcement) and in cities in which a motorist has to be first cited for another offense (secondary enforcement). Socioeconomic and gender differences in belt use were also studied. Methods: Belt use observations were obtained at gas stations in Boston, Chicago, Houston, and New York City. In short interviews with drivers, information on race/ethnicity and education was obtained. Results: Belt use was higher in primary enforcement cities, among women, and among those with at least a college degree. In primary law cities there were no clear differences in belt use by race/ethnicity; in secondary cities African Americans were less likely than Whites or Hispanics to be belted, among populations both with and without college degrees. This is consistent with data from other studies indicating that African Americans are more sensitive than Whites to the enforcement of primary laws and are more likely to increase belt use when states shift from secondary to primary. There has been no evidence of enforcement bias against African Americans — increases in citations generally have been greater among Whites than African Americans once primary enforcement is implemented. Conclusions: More widespread application of primary laws — standard throughout the world but in only 17 US states and the District of Columbia — would increase belt use for all drivers, especially African Americans.

Introduction

Seat belts effectively reduce serious injuries and deaths if used. However, the belt use rate in the US driving population is only approximately 70% (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, 2000), compared with 90% or more in many countries (European Transport Safety Council, 1996, Transport Canada, 2000).

Some driver populations are more likely than others to be non-users of belts. Of particular interest is that non-users have characteristics that put them at higher crash risk. For example, non-users are more likely to drive after drinking, and they have been found to be more likely than belt users to tailgate, run red lights, and drive at illegally high speeds (Lund, 1986, Evans, 1987, Preusser et al., 1991, Stewart, 1993, Reinfurt et al., 1996, Williams et al., 1997). These characteristics lead to higher crash rates, resulting in a situation in which those who most need the protection of the belts provided are less likely to use them.

There may be other high-risk populations more likely to be seriously injured because of lower belt use (Baker et al., 1998). Two groups of interest are African Americans and Hispanics, who, relative to Whites, have elevated passenger vehicle occupant death rates per capita, and especially, per miles driven (Braver, 2001). The extent to which lower belt use contributes to their risk of dying in crashes is unclear. The evidence concerning belt use among African Americans is mixed. In some observational surveys their belt use has been lower than among Whites, while in others it is higher (Williams et al., 1996, Preusser and Preusser, 1997, Ellis et al., 2000, Sapolsky, 2000, NHTSA, in press). No observational surveys of belt use among Hispanic drivers have been reported, although self-reported belt use is higher for Hispanics than for Whites (Nelson et al., 1998).

The present study was designed primarily to determine seat belt use among White, Black, and Hispanic drivers. To the extent differences exist, the study was also designed to investigate whether observed differences in these populations might be due to differences in socioeconomic status. It is well established that those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are less likely to use belts, and on average African Americans and Hispanics come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds than Whites (Lund, 1986, Williams et al., 1997).

In investigating these questions, the study also took into account gender and primary/secondary enforcement status. Women are more likely than men to use belts (NHTSA, 2000). In secondary law states, where citations for belt law violations can be issued only when the motorist has been stopped for another offense, belt use is lower than in primary enforcement states (Nelson et al., 1998, NHTSA, 2000). There is some evidence that minority groups are more responsive than Whites to increasing their belt use in primary law states (Solomon et al., 2000).

Section snippets

Methods

Observations of belt use among White, Black, and Hispanic drivers took place at gas stations in Boston (secondary law), Chicago (secondary law), Houston (primary law), and New York City (primary law). Short interviews were conducted with drivers to obtain self-reported information on race/ethnicity and education, used as a proxy for socioeconomic status. Data were collected in late September 2000.

The cities were chosen on the basis of their sizable Black and Hispanic, as well as White,

Results

There was a total of 8578 drivers whose seat belt use was observed. Three percent (296) of these drivers refused to participate in the survey regarding race/ethnicity and education, and 4% (328) gave only partial responses. Another 182 did not have gender coded by the observers, leaving a total of 7769 complete cases. This group included 2631 African Americans, 2603 Hispanics, 2156 Whites, and 379 ‘others’, primarily Asians. There were 3838 drivers from primary enforcement cities (1973 from

Discussion

The study confirmed previous findings that gender, socioeconomic status, and primary/secondary enforcement status are strong correlates of seat belt use. Women, drivers of higher educational attainment, and residents of jurisdictions where primary enforcement is permitted all were more likely to use belts. There were some differences in belt use by race/ethnicity as well, the main finding being the interaction between race/ethnicity, education, and primary/secondary law status. Where there was

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

References (24)

  • E.R. Braver

    Race, Hispanic Origin, and Socioeconomic Status in Relation to Motor Vehicle Occupant Death Rates and Risk Factors Among Adults

    (2001)
  • H.M. Ellis et al.

    Achieving a credible health and safety approach to increasing seat belt use among African Americans

    Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved

    (2000)
  • Cited by (66)

    • Does driver seatbelt use increase usage among front seat passengers? An exploratory analysis

      2021, Journal of Safety Research
      Citation Excerpt :

      Seatbelts, when used, are estimated to reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45% and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50% (National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2019b; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2019). Numerous studies have documented the benefits of seatbelt use including reduced injury risk, injury severity and fatalities (Blincoe, Miller, Zaloshnja, & Lawrence, 2015; Goetzke & Islam, 2015; Høye, 2016; Sunshine, Dwyer-Lindgren, Chen, & Mokdad, 2017) and discussed the role that gender, age, and level of education influence in seatbelt use (Birru, Rudisill, Fabio, & Zhu, 2016; Demirer, Durat, & Haşimoğlu, 2012; Enriquez & Pickrell, 2019; Richard et al., 2019; Wells, Williams, & Farmer, 2002). Birru et al. (2016) compared self-reported seatbelt use in the Appalachian and non-Appalachian counties of the United States and found that regardless of sex, age, or rurality, respondents who reside in Appalachian counties were less likely to consistently wear their seatbelt, females typically wear seatbelts more than males, and use increases with age.

    • A home-based approach to understanding the effect of spatial autocorrelation on seat belt non-use

      2021, Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text