3. Educational Efforts; Child Restraint and Seat Belt Use Laws.
In addition to taking these actions, and conducting extensive public education efforts, the Department of Transportation announced in the spring of 1997 a national strategy to increase seat belt and child seat use. Higher use rates would decrease air bag fatalities and the chance of adverse safety tradeoffs occurring as a result of turning off air bags. The plan to increase seat belt and child seat use has four elements: stronger public-private partnerships; stronger State seat belt and child seat use laws (e.g., laws providing for primary enforcement of seat belt use requirements); active, high-visibility enforcement of these laws; and effective public education. Substantial benefits could be obtained from achieving higher seat belt use rates. For example, if observed belt use increased from 69 percent to 90 percent, an estimated additional 5,400 lives would be saved annually over the estimated 10,414 lives currently being saved by seat belts. In addition, an estimated 129,000 injuries would be prevented annually. The economic savings from these incremental reductions in both fatalities and injuries would be $8.5 billion annually.