seatbelt usage

Published on: May 19, 2025

Emory Researchers Focus on Seatbelt Usage

Seatbelts are the single most effective piece of life-saving equipment in modern automobiles, helping protect thousands of motorists against severe personal injuries in car accidents every year. Researchers at Emory are making good use of a grant to study seatbelt usage rates in Georgia and how they can be expanded.

Researchers at the Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory received a grant of more than $300,000 from the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. The grant has been made to encourage researchers to monitor seatbelt usage rates across Georgia and track the rates of distracted driving. Understanding these issues will provide researchers the information they need to develop strategies to increase seatbelt use thereby preventing auto accidents.

Seatbelt usage rates in Georgia are on the higher side, but could always be better. According to the researchers, seatbelt rates in Georgia increased from 87.6% in 2023 to 88.8% in 2024. Georgia motorists have gotten better at buckling up over the past few decades, thanks to the awareness efforts of transportation authorities and strict enforcement of existing seatbelt laws. However, there is always room for improvement. Seatbelts are the first line of defense against major personal injuries when a person is involved in a car accident. A person who is safely buckled in is less likely to be smashed against the windshield or against the interior of the car, thereby making it less likely that he or she will sustain serious or life-threatening personal injuries.

Published on: March 23, 2024

Georgia Study will Probe Seat Belt Use, Distracted Driving Rates

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Emory University will kick off a study later this year that will focus on the rates of seatbelt use as well as distracted driving rates among motorists in Georgia. The study is extremely important because the failure use a seatbelt and distracted driving account for a significant number of the personal injuries and wrongful deaths suffered in car accidents.

The study is courtesy state funding for the Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory. The Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety has announced a grant of more than $296,000 for the division. The money will be used to better understand the kind of factors that affect driving behaviors among motorists in Georgia. The Injury Prevention Research Center plans to send trained observers to more than 400 sites across the state, and study factors like gender and age group that affect rash driving behaviors.

The Emory researchers will specifically focus on seatbelt usage rates across Georgia. This is a particular area of concern for Georgia transportation authorities. Seatbelt usage rates across the state have been on a steady decline over the last couple of years. Georgia transportation authorities recorded seatbelt usage rates of 89.3% in 2022, and these rates had dropped to 87.6% last year.

Published on: September 10, 2021

Decline in Seatbelt Use is Worrying

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

According to new data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seatbelt use rates declined in 2020. Federal authorities are concerned that these low rates could continue through 2021 as well.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that there were 38,680 deaths in traffic accidents recorded across the country in 2020. Almost fifty percent of them involved motorists or passengers who were not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident. Seatbelt use was found generally lower in rural as compared to urban areas. The lack of seatbelt use in rural areas also meant a higher percentage of serious accidents or deaths from car accidents.

2020 was an extremely unusual year in terms of traffic safety. Traffic volumes dropped significantly, especially between March and July, typically some of the busiest as well as some of the riskier months of the year. However, even as traffic volumes dropped and transportation safety authorities believed that accident rates would also correspondingly drop, the very opposite happened. The emptier streets only led to an increase in dangerous driving behaviors, including speeding and drunk driving.

Published on: November 12, 2020

Requiring Seat Belts for All will Reduce Traffic Accident Deaths in Atlanta

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is kick-starting its annual seat belt enforcement campaign, even as a bill that would require all occupants of a car in Georgia to be buckled in remains pending.

The current bill pending in the Senate would require that all occupants of a vehicle, including any adults in the back seat, remain buckled while the car is in motion. This bill was introduced in 2019, and has a lot of support from lawmakers who believe that it is important for all occupants in a car to receive equal protection against injuries and the possible risk of death in an accident. If this bill is ultimately be passed and becomes law, Georgia will join the list of states that now require all motorists and passengers to be buckled in while driving, without exception.

Currently, the law in Georgia requires only front seat passengers to wear seat belts. The law applies only to minor back seat passengers below the age of 17. Adult passengers in the back seat are exempt from the law.

Published on: July 10, 2019

Failure to Use Seat Belts is Not a Bar to Recovery for Car Accident Injuries

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

In a recent criminal case in Georgia involving a hit-and-run accident, the court did not allow evidence that the car crash victim was not wearing a seat belt when he was ejected from his vehicle after impact and died. The court stated that the victim’s failure to wear his seat belt was not relevant in determining the cause of his death.

Georgia law requires that all persons in the front seat of a passenger vehicle wear a seat belt. The seat belt law applies to all occupants in any motor vehicle, including pickup trucks, vans, sport utility vehicles, and any vehicle designed to carry 15 or fewer passengers.

We all know that seat belts are one of the first lines of defense to protect you from injury while in a motor vehicle. This is especially true in rear-end collisions, T-bone accidents and head-on collisions. Wearing a seat belt is crucial in avoiding serious injury in such types of accidents.

Published on: June 18, 2019

Audible Seatbelt Reminders Could Save 1500 Lives in Accidents Annually

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

We all know the campaign “Click It or Ticket” to encourage all people in passenger vehicles to wear their seatbelts.

The good news is that, nationwide, seatbelt use is at commendable highs. In 2018, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seat belt use across the country was as high as 89.6 percent. In 2017, Georgia’s seatbelt usage rate was an impressive 96 percent.

However, even with the high rate of seatbelt use, there were still more than 37,000 people killed in motor vehicle accidents in 201. Of this number, as many as 47 percent of these fatalities were not wearing seatbelts at the time of the accident. This goes to show that there is still room for improvement in seatbelt use among car riders.

Published on: September 23, 2018

Seatbelt Use Lagging Among Backseat Occupants

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Statistics show that seatbelt usage rates for adults riding in the backseat of a car are much lower than for those in the front seat. Unfortunately, far too many adult passengers believe that buckling up when they are riding in the backseat is not always necessary.

According to a recent survey by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 4 out of 5 backseat passengers believe that seatbelts are unnecessary on short trips or while riding in a taxi. Backseat passengers have a false sense of security and believe that they are safer when they are seated in the back seat and therefore don’t need to wear a seatbelt. Unfortunately, these statistics hold true in the Atlanta area as well.

Obviously, that logic is flawed. Every person in a passenger vehicle is at risk of injuries in an accident, regardless of where they are sitting in a car. Riding in the backseat can be just as safe as riding in the front seat, unless you’re not wearing a seatbelt. A few decades ago, when auto safety technologies were not as cutting-edge as they are now, front seat passengers had a much higher risk of dying in an accident. However, since the introduction of advanced airbag systems and other safety technologies, safety for front seat passengers and drivers has increased dramatically.

Published on: December 23, 2016

More Americans Stay Safe Behind the Wheel with Seatbelt Use Reaching Historic High

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

The seatbelt still continues to be the most effective life-saving device in modern automobiles, and new research indicates that Americans are now using it at record highs.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently reported that American motorists are buckling up at greater rates than ever before. The Agency reported that as many as 90% of all American motorists now buckle up when they drive. That percentage also includes all front seat passengers.

During 2015, seat belt use helped save as many as 14,000 lives in accidents. Since 1975, NHTSA estimates that more than 345,000 lives have been saved as a result of the use of seatbelts. However, failure to wear seat belts still kills. In spite of high seat belt usage rates in 2015, as many as 40% of traffic accident fatalities that year were not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.

Published on: May 7, 2011

More Atlanta Truck Drivers Buckle up To Prevent Injuries in Truck Accidents

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

Seatbelts save lives, and as new estimates indicate, the number of commercial truck drivers choosing to buckle up to prevent serious injuries or deaths in truck accidents, has increased.According to a study by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the number of commercial truck drivers wearing seat belts has increased substantially in 2010.As an Atlanta injury lawyer, I have represented a number of truck drivers involved in accidents with other truck drivers. I have consistently found that the truck drivers who have been in their seatbelts sustained far less serious injuries than the truckers who were not wearing seatbelts.

Seatbelt usage among commercial truck drivers increased to 78% in 2010 from 74% the previous year.That is the fourth consecutive annual increase in seat belt usage in this section of the population.According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, approximately 80% of commercial truck drivers in states that have primary seat belt laws wore seatbelts.However, in states which do not have primary seat belt laws, the seat belt usage rate among commercial truck drivers dropped to only 72%.

The FMCSA is also reporting an increase in seat belt usage rates among both commercial truck and bus drivers in 2010.Those rates were 78% in 2010, compared to just 65% in 2007.

Published on: February 20, 2009

Georgia Bill to Allow Seatbelt Use Evidence in Accident Trial

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

There’s a string of seatbelt laws all relating to the impact of seatbelts on car accident -related injuries pending in the legislature, and each one of them is at varying stages of approval. One such bill is currently in the Senate, and it could have potential implications for an accident victim’s right to recover damages after a car accident.

According to bill SB23, if the victim of an accident was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash, then the defendant’s lawyer would be able to bring up this fact during trial. Currently, Georgia law does not allow a victim’s failure to buckle up to be mentioned during trial proceedings. Jurors are not allowed to consider if failure to wear seatbelts could have contributed to the severity of the injuries. If the bill becomes law, then that fact can be used as evidence that the plaintiff or the victim contributed to the severity of his injuries by not buckling up. Obviously, this would have an impact on any damages that the plaintiff would be eligible for as the result of the accident. Georgia personal injury lawyers are expectedly displeased about the bill, and the repercussions it would have on a victim’s right to compensation after an accident. The Georgia Trial Lawyers Association has opposed the bill because it allows the jury to develop a negative perspective of the victim. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has voiced its approval of bill.

A civil trial is all about compensating a victim for another person’s negligence. A victim’s failure to wear a seatbelt cannot be used as an excuse to forgive or lesson the severity of the defendant’s negligent driving behavior. The bill amounts to letting a defendant get away with a possible rap on the wrist, if the victim has failed to wear a seatbelt. If the bill passes, we risk making a civil trial all about the inadequacies of the injured plaintiff, and not the negligence of the defendant.That defeats the purpose of civil justice.