For nearly a decade it has been commonly assumed that seat belt laws save lives. Using traffic fatality data from 1983 through 1993 this paper offers evidence to call this assumption into question. For several years traffic fatality rates have been declining in roughly equal proportions in both law states and non-law states. Moreover, the most current data reveals that while seat belt legislation is positively associated with increased safety belt use, neither seat belt laws not seat belt use rates are associated in any substantial way with traffic death rates. Also included in the paper is an extended discussion of some of the most prominent difficulties involved in researching the relationship between seat belt laws and traffic fatalities. (A)
Abstract