Valley ranks low in seat belt usage

J. Craig Anderson

Monday, Sept. 19, 2005 | 11:29 a.m.

Nevada motorists have been buckling up more than ever in 2005, a new study shows, but relatively low seat belt usage in the Las Vegas Valley is still holding back the state average.

In addition, Nevada residents brought the numbers down and were far out-belted by out-of-towners.

Statewide, safety belt usage hit a new high of 94.8 percent in 2005, according to results of a survey commissioned by the Nevada Public Safety Department. Only 86.6 percent of Nevadans used restraints in 2004.

Though all areas of the state showed significant improvement from the previous year, the region classified as "southern urban Nevada" was at the low end -- 93.4 percent -- while rural areas scored the highest with 96 percent buckling up.

The study, conducted by the UNLV Transportation Research Center in June and July, also found that 93.2 percent of motorists with Nevada license plates used safety restraints, compared with 97.6 percent of those with out-of-state plates.

Still, the overall numbers are likely to place Nevada at or near the top of the nation when it comes to seat belt use.

"People are finally, finally starting to pay attention" to the importance of safety restraints, said Erin Breen, director of the Safe Community Partnership.

Breen, a traffic safety expert at UNLV, said the state's public awareness campaigns and warnings issued by police seem to be paying off.

"I think it's (the result of) hard work on the part of an awful lot of people," she said.

Breen said the reason Southern Nevada did worse than the rest of the state could be connected to factors such as a higher percentage of young drivers -- historically the worst when it comes to wearing seat belts -- and a greater number of pickup trucks, whose drivers are less likely to buckle up.

The survey was conducted by university students who observed occupants of vehicles at 50 different sites around the state, officials said. They also videotaped vehicles to cross-check their observations.

They found that women buckled up more than men, with female drivers wearing belts 96.2 percent of the time, compared with 93.6 percent for male drivers.

Ethnicity also played a role in determining how likely a motorist was to wear a safety belt, the survey shows. The most faithful users were the group defined as those "who were not African American, Hispanic or Caucasian," with a 96.1 percent usage rate.

Whites were the second most likely to use restraints, at 94.9 percent, followed by blacks, at 91.4 percent, and then Hispanics, with 90.2 percent.

Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Honea said seat belts are a significant factor in determining whether someone lives or dies in a serious crash.

"It's just gut-wrenching to get to these scenes where there has been very little intrusion into a vehicle, but because the person wasn't wearing a seat belt, they were ejected from the vehicle and killed," Honea said.

Breen explained that each automobile crash actually triggers three stages of impact: the vehicle striking another object, the motorist hitting objects inside the vehicle and the internal organs slamming against the walls of the human body.

"That third crash, very often in that situation, will kill you," she said, unless a restraint prevents the body from gaining momentum.

The Highway Patrol's Southern Command, which encompasses the Las Vegas Valley and a few surrounding communities, handled 12,906 crashes from July 1, 2004, to June 30, 2005 -- an increase of 618 from the previous year.

Still, the number of people who died on highways in Southern Nevada decreased, from 94 to 92.

Unfortunately, Honea said, there are still far too many who don't buckle up.

"It's the simplest thing to do, and it's the one thing people often fail to do," he said.