An Assessment of Safety Belt Use In Alaska - 1992

Abstract

During the summer of 1992, over 24,000 vehicles were observed in a survey of seatbelt use. Information on these vehicles, the driver, and the outboard passenger was recorded and analyzed. Of the passenger cars in the sample area, covering 85 percent of the state's population, 62 percent of the drivers and 57 percent of the outboard passengers were observed to be wearing seatbelts. Cars in which both the driver and passenger in the same car were belted were observed 55 percent of the time. Of all the drivers and all the passengers observed, 66 percent were buckled. Drivers and outboard passengers of pickup trucks and recreational vehicles were much less likely to be wearing their seatbelts. The same techniques used for observing vehicles were used for observing motorcycles. Areawide, 51 percent of the drivers of motorcycles were wearing helmets. It is important to note that survey results pertain to the driver and outboard passenger in a probability sample of vehicles drawn from the most settled areas of Alaska. Included in this area are the Municipality of Anchorage, the MatanuskaSusitna Borough, the Juneau Borough, the Kenai Peninsula Borough, and the Fairbanks North Star Borough.