North Dakota crash reports show that nearly 82% of fatal crashes occurred on non-interstate rural roads over the past five years. A total of 5,535 driver observations were collected at 143 sites across 24 rural counties. Seat belt use was found to be significantly different on rural highways and in rural towns. Highway seat belt use rose slightly from 67.2% in 2015 to 67.8% in 2016. Average observed highway use rates ranged from 55.5% to 82.0% on rural highways in individual counties and from 20.2% to 58.3% in rural towns between 2014 and 2016. The survey indicates a 19.5 percentage point increase in rural highway seat belt use compared to average use between 2009 and 2011. Seat belt use remains significantly higher in the eastern regions compared to the west. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting