Belt-positioning booster seats are recommended for children who use vehicle seat belts as primary restraints but who are too small to obtain good belt fit. Previous research has shown that belt-positioning boosters reduce injury risk, but the belt fit produced by the wide range of boosters in the US market has not previously been assessed. The present study describes the development of a method...

ResearcherS used two behavioral prompts to compare increases in safety belt use: a Click It or Ticket prompt or a Flash-for-Life prompt. Participants were 1,822 unbuckled drivers exiting two student parking lots of a large university. Research assistants identified unbuckled drivers, flashed one of the two prompts, and recorded whether drivers buckled after the prompt and the drivers' facial ex...

OBJECTIVE Observe and report seat belt use among children transported in belt-positioning booster seats. DESIGN We conducted a cross-sectional, observational survey of children transported in motor vehicles between 2006 and 2007. While drivers completed a survey reporting the child's age, weight and gender, and the driver's age, gender, race, income, education, and relationship to the child; ...

In the past decade the applicability of belt-drives has been extended significantly due to their increased reliability. With automotive engines it is now common to join a large number of belt-drives into a single, long belt-drive with several tensioner pulleys. However, these belt-drives can exhibit complex dynamic behaviors; therefore it is very important to predict the dynamics response of su...

OBJECTIVE Many modern cars have seat belt reminders (SBRs) using loud and clear sound and light signals. These systems have developed over the last few years. This study investigates how these modern systems influence the seat belt use in real-life traffic in built-up areas in some European cities. METHODS The data were collected by field observations in major cities in six European countries...

Maine upgraded its seat belt law to primary enforcement on September 20, 2007. Belt observations during the day and night were conducted along with awareness surveys in state licensing offices. Both daytime and nighttime observed belt use increased in the months following implementation of the law (daytime 77-84%; night 69-81%). Although daytime belt use was generally higher, nighttime belt use...

INTRODUCTION Seat belt use reduces the risk of injuries and fatalities among motor vehicle occupants in a crash, but belt use in rear seating positions is consistently lower than front seating positions. Knowledge is limited concerning factors associated with seat belt use among adult rear seat passengers. METHODS Data from the 2012 ConsumerStyles survey were used to calculate weighted percen...

A laboratory study of posture and belt fit was conducted with 46 men and 51 women, 61% of whom were age 60 years or older and 32% age 70 years or older. In addition, 28% of the 97 participants were obese, defined as body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m^2. A mockup of a passenger vehicle driver's station was created and five belt anchorage configurations were produced by moving the buckle, outboard-upper (...