The third London seat belt and mobile phone survey was carried out in March 2008 at 33 sites in London replicating the methods and analysis of the 2006 and 2007 surveys. Results from this survey have been compared with the previous two London surveys and results from other urban areas from the DfT survey carried out in October 2007. Driver seat belt wearing rates in London increased in 2008 bringing the wearing rate in London closer to the DfT survey in other urban areas. Front seat car passenger seat belt wearing rates also increased while the rear seat car passenger rate fell slightly as a result of a higher proportion of unrestrained young children aged 0-4. London car passenger rates remain substantially lower than the DfT survey in 2008. Seat belt wearing rates for van passengers and taxi occupants have remained relatively unchanged from 2007. The overall level of mobile phone use has increased for car, taxi and van drivers in London in 2008. However only slight increases in hand-held phone usage were observed and the majority of the increase was in hands free phone usage (in particular for London taxi drivers). (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting