New Hampshire is the only state in the country that does NOT mandate seatbelt use for adults. But the same folks who said a handsfree device ban would make the roads safer (it did not) are looking once more at imposing a mandatory seat belt use law for Adults
Not much appeals to me this morning so I took thirty minutes to do an unscientific survey of NHTSA state motor vehicle fatality data for the northeast. (Wow, Steve–that sounds exciting.) I wanted to see if Seat Belt Laws had any measured affect on deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT).
First off, I wear a seat belt, and would not drive without it, but I have never advocated for any state law mandating it nor would I. And after sifting through the data for ten Northeastern (ish) states I doubt I ever will.
For purposes of the review I looked at Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. I wanted ten regional states with a mix of rural urban conditions and similar weather–ie, some snow, and that had seat belt laws. (All but New Hampshire if I am not mistaken.) I then looked at the last five years for which we have data (2006-2010) and averaged total fatalities per million VMT. The results? Seat belt laws don’t matter all that much. People will use restraints or not regardless of laws–New Hampshire, for example, has no law but still manages a decent voluntary participation rate.
So what about the numbers?