Hawaii leads the nation in seat belt use compliance. The use rate for front-seat occupants of passenger vehicles in daylight exceeds80%. After the results of observational studies on seat belt use conducted in hawaii are described, the relationship between enforcement levels and seat belt use is explored. Some of the relevant literature and some of the different approaches to explaining driver behavior are reviewed, and a statistical model relating levels of enforcement and rates of seat belt use for the city and county of honolulu is presented and discussed. A variation of the regression model that uses cumulative citations standardized by the estimated number of drivers in the county is shown to explain more than half of the monthly variation in seat belt use. Enforcement is shown to be an important factor in hawaii's success with its mandatory seat belt law, but other factors such as public education (though difficult to quantify)are examined. Finally, the relevance of these findings to other states is discussed. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1325, Highway safety: older drivers, seat belts, alcohol, motorcycles, and pedestrians 1991
Samenvatting