Safety Belt and Motorcycle Helmet Use in Virginia: The 1996 Update

About the report:

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 the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, Section 153. To receive the funds, states had to meet specified standards with regard to the existence of pertinent statutes as well as safety belt and motorcycle helmet use rates. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration specified the survey criteria to be used in determining a state's use rate. Over the 3 years the program was in operation (1991-1993), Virginia qualified for approximately $1.6 million in funds. Even though the funding program ended, the Virginia 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. This report describes the methodology used for data collection and adds the results of the 1996 survey to those for the previous years (1992-1995). The results show that Virginia's 1996 safety belt use rate was 69.6% and its motorcycle helmet use rate was 100.0%. The helmet use rate has been 100% in all 5 years of the study. For the first 4 years the survey was conducted (19921995), the safety belt use rates were 71.6%, 73.2%, 71.8%, and 70.2% respectively. Although there is little statistical difference in the results over these 5 years, the trend over the past 4 years has been lower rates each year, and 1996 was the first time the statewide rate was below 70%.

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