Open AccessPassenger car size and driver seat belt use.
Author(s) -
Barbara O’Neill,
Allan F. Williams,
Ronald S. Karpf
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.73.5.588
Subject(s) - seat belt , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , injury prevention , occupational safety and health , perception , agency (philosophy) , suicide prevention , transport engineering , business , advertising , environmental health , engineering , psychology , medicine , political science , law , automotive engineering , philosophy , epistemology , neuroscience
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) claims, on the basis of survey results, that seat belt use in small cars is twice as high as in large cars. The agency interprets this as being due in part to perceptions of higher risk by small car occupants. In fact, little is known about the factors motivating belt use, including whether risk perception is important. A reanalysis of the NHTSA data indicates that most of the differences in belt use by car size can be explained by higher use in imported cars, and by geographical differences in belt use in domestic cars.