Does rear seat belt use vary according to socioeconomic status?

P olicy measures, including legislation, are one method of promoting health. Participation in many voluntary health promoting behaviours is strongly socioeconomically patterned, and this may also apply to behaviours governed by legislation. Rear passenger seat belt use is one legally prescribed behaviour—having been made compulsory in the UK in 1991. Previous research on the socioeconomic distribution of seat belt use has relied on self reported behaviours and is therefore subject to response bias, has focused on driver seat belt use, or has been undertaken in the USA where legislation is different from the UK. 3 We conducted the first UK based observational study to investigate the association between rear passenger seat belt use and socioeconomic status (SES), using car value as a proxy measure of SES.