While our nation faces many serious transportation problems, no other issue personally impacts American families as much as safety on our highways. Our highway transportation system is among the safest in the world, yet 41,611 Americans died on the nation’s roads and highways during 1999. Of those fatalities, 32,061 were passenger vehicle occupants. An estimated 9,553 of these victims would have survived if they had only worn seat belts. Seat belt use has grown fivefold over the past 16 years, but almost thirty percent of Americans still don't buckle up. The year 2001 ushers in a new Administration and a new Congress. A number of safety organisations concluded that the time is right to re-examine the programs, priorities, and strategies the public and private sectors have been using to encourage people to buckle up. To that end, the 2001 Seat Belt Summit brought together 45 national leaders having diverse interests and backgrounds to assess what policies have and have not been successful, and to recommend effective policies and strategies for the next several years. The strategies and recommendations of the Summit attendees represent proven approaches that, if implemented, will save thousands of lives each year. This report presents the proceedings of the 2001 Seat Belt Summit, held January 11-13, 2001. Among others, the Appendices contain the following papers: (A) Seat Belt Use: Where We’ve Been, Where We Are, and What’s Next (Brain O'Neill); (B) Seat Belt Use in Motor Vehicles: The U.S. Experience (Philip W. Haseltine); (C) Seat Belt Use in Canada (Philip W. Haseltine). (Author/publisher)
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