Seat Belt Law Enforcement and Racial Disparities in Seat Belt Use

Seat Belt Use in States and Territories with Primary and Secondary Laws -- United States, 2006

“…CDC has shown that primary enforcement laws are associated with reduced disparities in seat belt use by gender, race, education, income, age, population density (i.e., rural vs. urban), and body mass index (Beck, Shults, Mack, & Ryan, 2007). Several studies have shown that primary laws are associated with reductions in or elimination of racial disparities in belt use (Briggs et al, 2006;Beck, Shults et al, 2007;Wells, Williams, & Farmer, 2002).…”

Alarming trends in the improper use of motor vehicle restraints in children: implications for public policy and the development of race-based strategies for improving compliance

“…Most of these studies have reported on population-based patterns of restraint use; however, little is known regarding the rates of compliance in African American (AA) children. The social relevance of further defining these patterns lies in the observation that the morbidity and mortality in AA children involved in MVCs are higher than the national average [1,4,10,[12][13][14][15][16][17]. This is presumably because of relatively poor compliance with restraint use in minority populations; however, similar compliance issues have also been observed in children from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds [18][19][20].…”

“…With these considerations, our study took on 3 specific aims: (1) to characterize the effect of race on compliance with motor vehicle restraint use in children; (2) to characterize the effect of socioeconomic status on restraint compliance using insurance status as a surrogate variable; and (3) to characterize the relative influence of race on restraint compliance although controlling for socioeconomic factors.…”

Tweens at risk: Examining car safety practices in four economically disadvantaged urban elementary schools in Virginia

“…When considering all age groups, differential belt use is well documented for certain demographic subgroups (Lee, Shults, Greenspan, Haileyesus, & Dellinger, 2008;Macy & Freed, 2012). Key groups that use seat belts less often than their counterparts include: males, older children, young drivers, black motorists/occupants, pickup truck drivers, those living in rural areas, those with low incomes, and those with less education (Agran et al, 1998;Braver, 2003;Briggs et al, 2006;Brown, 2010;Colgan et al, 2004;Eby, Bingham, Vivoda, & Ragunathan, 2005;Greenspan et al, 2010;Gunn, Phillippi, & Cooper, 2005;Lee et al, 2008;Pickrell & Ye, 2009;Rangel, Martin, Brown, Garcia, & Falcone, 2008;Romano, Tippetts, Blackman, & Voas, 2005;Vivoda & Eby, 2011;Vivoda, Eby, & Kostyniuk, 2004;Winston, Kallan, Senserrick, & Elliott, 2008). However, separating the presence of any one risk factor from additional injury risk factors is anything but simple.…”