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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 Mobilization

         Additional 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.