Connecticut drivers buckling up more often
For years, Connecticut was at or above the national average when it came to seat belt use.
In 2014, that changed, triggering members of a state Department of Transportation-led seat belt working group to ponder what went wrong. Then they began working to reverse the trend.
For them, last week’s news that seat belt use in the state has reached 90.3 percent — an all-time high — was a sign their hard work paid off.
“This has been a very collaborative effort of people saying, ‘What can we do to save lives by increasing seat belt use?’” said Neil Chaudhary, owner and chief executive officer of Preusser Research Group. “It’s good that people are getting the message and buckling up.”
According to Chaudhary, who is a member of the working group, seat belt use data is collected through roadside observation.
Using a method required by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, participants study drivers at more than 100 sites statewide, Chaudhary said. Members of Chaudhary’s group then make adjustments to the data to ensure the sample is representative in terms of traffic volume and county-by-county distribution.
According to PRG’s data, seat belt use in Connecticut began dropping in 2012, when it fell from 88.4 to 86.8 percent. It didn’t fall below the national average until 2014, when it hit 85.1 percent.
The continual decline flummoxed members of the working group, from law enforcement personnel, state Highway Safety Office officials and medical professionals to UConn crash data collectors and AAA employees.
“Given Connecticut’s laws and the cooperation among agencies, there was no good reason we shouldn’t have been at 90,” Chaudhary said.
While brainstorming and going over the data, Chaudhary said members of the group realized state lawmakers at some point had raised the fine for seat belt noncompliance to $92 with little fanfare.
They enlisted advertising agency Cashman + Katz to emphasize that in a new campaign with the hope it would encourage folks to fasten their belts.
“It’s important for people to know the fines they face,” Chaudhary said. “It’s not just, ‘Let’s hit them with this fine.’ The goal is to have people not be fined.”
From the outside looking in, the difference between 85 and 90 percent may seem negligible. But the number 90, Chaudhary said, is significant for multiple reasons. There are different federal mandates for states whose compliance is below 90 percent, he said, such as having a seat belt working group. To surpass the national average again, the state would have to reach at least 90. And the working group had set 90 as a goal, Chaudhary said.
“The exciting thing is that I was first person to see it,” he said of the 90.3 figure where the state now stands.
The number gives Connecticut the highest compliance rate in New England and puts it above the national average of 90.1 percent.
“I produced the number, sat there and stared at it and said, let me recheck and make sure this is accurate,” Chaudhary said with a laugh. “I was psyched.”
Chaudhary said he expects Connecticut will keep its seat belt working group active even if the federal mandate for it goes away. Possible upcoming initiatives its members have thrown around include boosting enforcement of nighttime seat belt use — the period typically brings less compliance — and targeting messaging toward males ages 18 to 34, who are the least likely to wear seat belts.
“You’re roughly 50 percent less likely to die in a serious crash when you’re properly restrained,” Chaudhary said. “That’s really important.”