A preliminary evaluation of New York and New Jersey insurance injury claim results before and after enactment of mandatory seat belt legislation : 1983-85 models.

This report presents preliminary results only on the frequency of insurance claims for injuries to occupants of 1983-85 model year vehicles before and after these states enacted seat belt statutes; it does not address the cost of the injury claims. To assess the effect of the legislation on insurance claims, post-law results for New York and New Jersey are compared to pre-law results for the same period one year earlier , and to results for Connecticut, which did not have a belt use law during the periods covered in this report. The results presented in this report are based on personal injury protection and collision insurance coverage losses reported for these periods.