Safety Belt and Motorcycle Helmet Use in Virginia: The 1999 Update

About the report:

Safety belt use data were first collected in Virginia in 1974. Early data (1974-77 and 1983-86) were collected from only the four metropolitan areas (Northern Virginia, Tidewater, Richmond, and Roanoke) of the state. Between 1987 and 1992, data were also collected in nine communities with a population under 15,000. In 1991 and 1992, data were collected in four communities with a population between 50,000 and 100,000. It was only with the initiation of this project in 1992 that the state had a true statewide survey. This series of surveys to determine the safety belt and motorcycle helmet use rates in Virginia was initiated to qualify the Commonwealth for incentive funds in accordance with the requirements of Section 153 of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. To receive the funds, states had to have laws requiring the use of safety belts and motorcycle helmets and to meet certain use rate standards. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration specified the survey criteria to be used in determining a state's use rate. Even though the section 153 funding program ended in 1994, Virginia's Department of Motor Vehicles requested that data collection continue and that the same methods, procedures, and sites be used as were used for the section 153 program. The Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century established a new grant program (Section 157) for allocating funds to the states. The federal guidelines for conducting surveys to determine a state's use rate are nearly identical with those for the Section 153 program, and Virginia has an approved methodology. This report describes the methodology used for site selection and data collection and adds the results of the 1999 survey to those of the previous years (1992-98). The results show that Virginia's 1999 safety belt use rate was 69.9% and its motorcycle helmet use rate was 99.1 %. The helmet use rate was 100% in the first 5 years of the study (1992-1996) and was 98.7% in 1997 and 99.6% in 1998. For the first 7 years the survey was conducted (1992-98), the safety belt use rates were 71.6%, 73.2%, 71.8%, 70.2%, 69.6%, 67.1 %, and 73.6%, respectively (see Figure ES-l). With regard to the use of a motorcycle helmet, violations were noted in Campbell County (1997), Henry County (1998), and Portsmouth (1999). It should be noted that very few riders were not using a helmet (two in 1997, one in 1998, and one in 1999).

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