This document provides descriptive statistics on the extent of restraint use among fatally injured occupants of passenger vehicles in the USA in 2003. Data are presented for occupants of passenger cars, pickup trucks, minivans, large vans, sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and other types of light trucks and vans (LTVs). The data used are from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) Annual Report File for 2003. It is shown that 56% of the occupants killed in fatal crashes were not restrained, i.e., they were not wearing safety belts or not properly restrained in child-safety seats, etc. Overall, 44% of unrestrained passenger vehicle occupants are ejected, partially or totally, from the vehicle as compared to only 6% of restrained occupants. Other notable observations include: * 65% of fatally injured unrestrained SUV occupants were ejected totally or partially, the highest among all types of passenger vehicles. The lowest such proportion was 35% for passenger cars; * 57% of fatally injured unrestrained SUV occupants were totally ejected from their vehicles. This compared with 28% of all unrestrained passenger car occupants, 39% of all unrestrained pickup truck occupants and 41% of all unrestrained minivan occupants; * 50% of all fatally injured passenger car occupants were unrestrained as compared to 71% of all pickup truck occupants, 64% of all SUV occupants and 52% of all minivan occupants; and * overall, about 26% of fatally injured occupants were ejected from their vehicles. Also, about 80% of all ejected, fatally injured occupants were totally ejected.
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