U.S. drivers, passengers buckle up in record numbers

WASHINGTON – Better than eight out of 10 drivers and passengers buckled up in 2005, a record high for U.S. seat belt use, transportation officials said Friday.

The compliance rate, now 82 percent, helped highway fatalities drop to the lowest rate in 30 years, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said. He estimated that seat belts now annually save nearly 16,000 lives, prevent hundreds of thousands of injuries and save the economy $67 billion a year. A decade ago, just six in 10 drivers wore seat belts.

“The fact that safety belts save lives is starting to click with the American people,” Mineta told a Mothers Against Drunk Driving convention in Washington, where he announced the latest figures.

In 2004, more than 42,000 Americans died of injuries related to traffic accidents.

Seat belt compliance was highest in the 21 states, including Washington, that have passed laws permitting police to pull drivers over simply for not wearing a seat belt, Mineta said. In 28 other states, including Idaho, police enforce seat belt laws only after pulling drivers over for other offenses. New Hampshire requires only that minors wear seat belts.

The findings are based on observations in the summers of 2004 and 2005.