Seat belt use hits record in R.I.

THE R.I. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION reported Friday that Rhode Island's seat belt use rate increased to 86 percent in 2013 compared with 78 percent the year before. The rate is the highest ever recorded in the state, according to RIDOT. / PBN FILE PHOTO/BRIAN MCDONALD
THE R.I. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION reported Friday that Rhode Island's seat belt use rate increased to 86 percent in 2013 compared with 78 percent the year before. The rate is the highest ever recorded in the state, according to RIDOT. / PBN FILE PHOTO/BRIAN MCDONALD

PROVIDENCE – More than eight in 10 Rhode Island drivers wear seat belts, the highest number ever recorded in the state, according to a 2013 study released Friday by the R.I. Department of Transportation.

The 86 percent use rate in the study conducted in December by Preusser Research Group of Connecticut represented an improvement over the previous year’s rate of 78 percent. RIDOT said in a release that the number of unbuckled people killed in crashes has also decreased 50 percent over the last five years.

“The results of this study are encouraging, and we hope that drivers and passengers will continue to buckle up in greater numbers,” RIDOT Director Michael P. Lewis said in the release. “As someone who has survived a rollover crash, I can tell you firsthand that seat belts save lives!”

The study observed 10,484 drivers and passengers at 124 sites around the state. Driver seat belt use was highest in Kent County (86 percent), while the greatest percentage of passengers was buckled up in Bristol County (88 percent).

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RIDOT credits the improvements in part to the state’s primary seat belt law, as well as to increased enforcement and public-awareness campaigns.

Enacted in 2011 and made permanent in 2013, the primary belt law allows law enforcement officers to cite motorists at any time for not buckling up. Under the prior statute, drivers had to be pulled over for another offense before they could be ticketed for not wearing a safety restraint.

RIDOT has provided funding to police departments and community groups to increase awareness and enforcement of the law. The number of citations issued in 2013 was the highest in six years.

The Preusser study did find areas of needed improvement, said RIDOT. For example, women are more likely than men to buckle up when driving (88 percent versus 81 percent). Also, seat belt use in pickup trucks was lower than other vehicles, with 72 percent of drivers and 68 percent of passengers seen using a safety restraint.

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