Increase in Seat Belt Use, Decrease In Deaths, Spurs Expansion Of Operation ABC
17 September 1998
Increase in Seat Belt Use -- Decrease In Deaths -- Spurs Expansion Of Operation ABC MobilizationAdditional National Enforcement Push Set This Thanksgiving; Two More Planned for 1999 WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 -- New data show that the nationally- coordinated seat belt enforcement drive, the Operation ABC Mobilization, is saving lives by getting more people to buckle up. As a result, organizers announced today that the effort will be conducted again, on an even larger scale. The Operation ABC Mobilization: America Buckles Up Children is a 50-state crackdown on drivers who don't buckle up children. It has been conducted twice in the past two years. Based on very favorable initial evidence of effectiveness, organizers are making plans to repeat and expand the effort during the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, and two more times in 1999. The evidence of effectiveness -- while not definitive -- is very strong. A before and after observational survey conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) showed that six million more Americans were buckled up after the last Mobilization, which was conducted during Memorial Day. And a newly updated report from the National Safety Council concluded that fatalities were down by more than one-third over the holiday, despite low gas prices and heavy travel. "Officers from more than 4,200 agencies took to the roads in May to protect children by enforcing the laws requiring that kids be buckled up," said Janet Dewey, Executive Director of the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, which sponsored the Mobilization in cooperation with NHTSA. "They are champions who have paved the way to increase the scope and power of the Mobilization this Fall and next year." In a letter to law enforcement officers who participated in the Memorial Day Mobilization, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater applauded the nationwide crackdown, saying "It is clear that high visibility enforcement efforts have a significant and immediate impact on seat belt use . . . Because of your efforts, hundreds of lives have been saved and scores of children are alive today." "State and local enforcement agencies have focused on highway safety during busy holiday travel periods in the past," said Ricardo Martinez, Administrator of the NHTSA. "But this national effort to protect children is truly unique and is demonstrating significant change in safety behavior. Everyone involved should be encouraged and applauded for their participation." Currently, crashes are the leading cause of death among children -- six out of ten children who die in crashes are completely unrestrained. NHTSA estimates that half of these unbuckled children could be saved by an age and size appropriate safety seat or seat belt. In addition to stepped up enforcement of child passenger safety laws, research shows that enforcement of adult seat belt laws is also essential to protecting children. According to national observational data, when a driver is buckled up, belt use for children is 87%. However, when a driver is unbuckled, belt use for children drops to 24%. Similarly, a recent study by the University of California, Irvine, reported in the journal Pediatrics, found that driver restraint use was the strongest predictor or child restraint use; restrained drivers were three times more likely to restrain children than drivers who did not use seat belts themselves. "Officers have known for years that adults set the standard for belt use in vehicles -- if adults don't buckle up, chances are children won't be buckled up either," said Chief Bobby Moody, President of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. "That is why during the next Operation ABC mobilizations, officers across the country will also focus on enforcing existing adult seat belt laws in addition to child passenger safety laws." The next Mobilization will take place from November 23 through 29. Operation ABC Mobilization, organized by the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is part of the Buckle Up America Campaign -- an ongoing national safety initiative to increase seat belt use and save the lives of Americans. The Campaign is supported by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs Association, Operation CARE and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.