One of the safest and easiest choices American drivers can make when getting inside their cars is to wear their seat belts. A simple act of buckling up could be life-saving and could prevent you from being severely injured in a car accident. Based on NHTSA data, seat belts saved an estimated 14,955 lives in 2017.
Seat belts are safety features designed to help save lives when people are on the road. However, despite advanced restraint systems and stricter laws on seat belt usage, people still fail to wear them and put themselves at risk. Our personal injury lawyers at Cannon & Dunphy S.C. are advocates of road safety aiming to promote the importance of seat belt use in the United States. We wanted to find out the seat belt use rates in the U.S. to see which states are increasing their usage, and which states are not. So, we worked with the data visualization and consumer safety advocacy firm, Safer America, to analyze NHTSA seat belt use rates from 2017.
The five states with the highest seat belt use in 2017 are:
- Georgia – 97.10%
- Hawaii – 96.90%
- Oregon – 96.80%
- California – 96.20%
- Washington – 94.80%
These 5 states ranked above the national average.
The five states with the lowest seat belt use in 2017 are:
- New Hampshire – 67.60%
- Massachusetts – 73.70%
- South Dakota – 74.80%
- Montana – 78.00%
- Mississippi – 78.80%
These five states ranked below the national average.
2010-2017 National Seat Belt Rates
| State or U.S. Territory | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2016-2017 Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 91.40% | 88.00% | 89.50% | 97.30% | 95.70% | 93.30% | 92.00% | 92.90% | 0.90% |
| Alaska | 86.80% | 89.30% | 88.10% | 86.10% | 88.40% | 89.30% | 88.50% | 90.10% | 1.60% |
| Arizona | 81.80% | 82.90% | 82.20% | 84.70% | 87.20% | 86.60% | 88.00% | 86.10% | -1.90% |
| Arkansas | 78.30% | 78.40% | 71.90% | 76.70% | 74.40% | 77.70% | 75.10% | 81.00% | 5.90% |
| California | 96.20% | 96.60% | 95.50% | 97.40% | 97.10% | 97.30% | 96.50% | 96.20% | -0.30% |
| Colorado | 82.90% | 82.10% | 80.70% | 82.10% | 82.40% | 85.20% | 84.00% | 83.80% | -0.20% |
| Connecticut | 88.20% | 88.40% | 86.80% | 86.60% | 85.10% | 85.40% | 89.40% | 90.30% | 0.90% |
| Delaware | 90.70% | 90.30% | 87.90% | 92.20% | 91.90% | 90.40% | 91.40% | 91.40% | 0.00% |
| District of Columbia | 92.30% | 95.20% | 92.40% | 87.50% | 93.20% | 95.50% | 94.10% | 93.60% | -0.50% |
| Florida | 87.40% | 88.10% | 87.40% | 87.20% | 88.80% | 89.40% | 89.60% | 90.20% | 0.60% |
| Georgia | 89.60% | 93.00% | 92.00% | 95.50% | 97.30% | 97.30% | 97.20% | 97.10% | -0.10% |
| Hawaii | 97.60% | 96.00% | 93.40% | 94.00% | 93.50% | 92.80% | 94.50% | 96.90% | 2.40% |
| Idaho | 77.90% | 79.10% | 79.00% | 81.60% | 80.20% | 81.10% | 82.90% | 81.20% | -1.70% |
| Illinois | 92.60% | 92.90% | 93.60% | 93.70% | 94.10% | 95.20% | 93.00% | 93.80% | 0.80% |
| Indiana | 92.40% | 93.20% | 93.60% | 91.60% | 90.20% | 91.90% | 92.40% | 93.00% | 0.60% |
| Iowa | 93.10% | 93.50% | 92.40% | 91.90% | 92.80% | 93.00% | 93.80% | 91.40% | -2.40% |
| Kansas | 81.80% | 82.90% | 79.50% | 80.70% | 85.70% | 82.10% | 87.00% | 82.00% | -5.00% |
| Kentucky | 80.30% | 82.20% | 83.70% | 85.00% | 86.10% | 86.70% | 86.50% | 86.80% | 0.30% |
| Louisiana | 75.90% | 77.70% | 79.30% | 82.50% | 84.10% | 85.90% | 87.80% | 87.10% | -0.70% |
| Maine | 82.00% | 81.60% | 84.40% | 83.00% | 85.00% | 85.50% | 85.80% | 88.90% | 3.10% |
| Maryland | 94.70% | 94.20% | 91.10% | 90.70% | 92.10% | 92.90% | 90.80% | 92.10% | 1.30% |
| Massachusetts | 73.70% | 73.20% | 72.70% | 74.80% | 76.60% | 74.10% | 78.20% | 73.70% | -4.50% |
| Michigan | 95.20% | 94.50% | 93.60% | 93.00% | 93.30% | 92.80% | 94.50% | 94.10% | -0.40% |
| Minnesota | 92.30% | 92.70% | 93.60% | 94.80% | 94.70% | 94.00% | 93.20% | 92.00% | -1.20% |
| Mississippi | 81.00% | 81.90% | 83.20% | 74.40% | 78.30% | 79.60% | 77.90% | 78.80% | 0.90% |
| Missouri | 76.00% | 79.00% | 79.40% | 80.10% | 78.80% | 79.90% | 81.40% | 84.00% | 2.60% |
| Montana | 78.90% | 76.90% | 76.30% | 74.00% | 74.00% | 77.00% | 76.00% | 78.00% | 2.00% |
| Nebraska | 84.10% | 84.20% | 78.60% | 79.10% | 79.00% | 79.60% | 83.30% | 85.90% | 2.60% |
| Nevada | 93.20% | 94.10% | 90.50% | 94.80% | 94.00% | 92.10% | 89.40% | 90.60% | 1.20% |
| New Hampshire | 72.20% | 75.00% | 68.60% | 73.00% | 70.40% | 69.50% | 70.20% | 67.60% | -2.60% |
| New Jersey | 93.70% | 94.50% | 88.30% | 91.00% | 87.60% | 91.40% | 93.40% | 94.10% | 0.70% |
| New Mexico | 89.80% | 90.50% | 91.40% | 92.00% | 92.10% | 93.30% | 92.30% | 91.50% | -0.80% |
| New York | 89.80% | 90.50% | 90.40% | 91.10% | 90.60% | 92.20% | 91.80% | 93.40% | 1.60% |
| North Carolina | 89.70% | 89.50% | 87.50% | 88.60% | 90.60% | 89.90% | 91.70% | 91.40% | -0.30% |
| North Dakota | 74.80% | 76.70% | 80.90% | 77.70% | 81.00% | 80.40% | 82.80% | 79.30% | -3.50% |
| Ohio | 83.80% | 84.10% | 82.00% | 84.50% | 85.00% | 83.90% | 83.80% | 82.80% | -1.00% |
| Oklahoma | 85.90% | 85.90% | 83.80% | 83.60% | 86.30% | 84.50% | 86.60% | 86.90% | 0.30% |
| Oregon | 97.00% | 96.60% | 96.80% | 98.20% | 97.80% | 95.50% | 96.20% | 96.80% | 0.60% |
| Pennsylvania | 86.00% | 83.80% | 83.50% | 84.00% | 83.60% | 82.70% | 85.20% | 85.60% | 0.40% |
| Rhode Island | 78.00% | 80.40% | 77.50% | 85.60% | 87.40% | 86.70% | 87.50% | 88.30% | 0.80% |
| South Carolina | 85.40% | 86.00% | 90.50% | 91.70% | 90.00% | 91.60% | 93.90% | 92.30% | -1.60% |
| South Dakota | 74.50% | 73.40% | 66.50% | 68.70% | 68.90% | 73.60% | 74.20% | 74.80% | 0.60% |
| Tennessee | 87.10% | 87.40% | 83.70% | 84.80% | 87.70% | 86.20% | 88.90% | 88.50% | -0.40% |
| Texas | 93.80% | 93.70% | 94.00% | 90.30% | 90.70% | 90.50% | 91.60% | 91.90% | 0.30% |
| Utah | 89.00% | 89.20% | 81.90% | 82.40% | 83.40% | 87.20% | 87.90% | 88.80% | 0.90% |
| Vermont | 85.20% | 84.70% | 84.20% | 84.90% | 84.10% | 85.00% | 80.00% | 84.50% | 4.50% |
| Virginia | 80.50% | 81.80% | 78.40% | 79.70% | 77.30% | 80.90% | 79.00% | 85.30% | 6.30% |
| Washington | 97.60% | 97.50% | 96.90% | 94.50% | 94.50% | 94.60% | 94.70% | 94.80% | 0.10% |
| West Virginia | 82.10% | 84.90% | 84.00% | 82.20% | 87.80% | 89.00% | 86.80% | 89.70% | 2.90% |
| Wisconsin | 79.20% | 79.00% | 79.90% | 82.40% | 84.70% | 85.80% | 88.40% | 89.40% | 1.00% |
| Wyoming | 78.90% | 82.60% | 77.00% | 81.90% | 79.20% | 79.80% | 80.50% | 84.80% | 4.30% |
As seen from the 2010 to 2017 data table, some state rates remained consistent, while others saw signifiant inclines and declines throughout the seven years. The last column of the table shows the rate in change per state specifically from 2016 to 2017.
2016 to 2017 Changes
What is interesting about some of the states that ranked the highest in the national seat belt use was that some saw a decrease in their total rate from 2016 to 2017. For example, California is ranked the 4th highest state with their usage of seat belts, but had a slight decline of -0.30% from 2016 to 2017. Another interesting state is Montana. In 2017, Montana ranked second to last in the United States with lowest seat belt rates, but in fact saw a 2% increase from 2016 to 2017.
Meanwhile, Delaware had a 0% increase from 2016-2017, remaining at 91.40% in that time frame. The states that saw bigger increases between the year were Arkansas (5.90%), Vermont (4.50%), Virginia (6.30%), and Wyoming (4.30%). While Kansas (-5%), North Dakota (-3.50%), and Massachusetts (-4.50%) had the highest decline in their seat belt rate.
Overall, 23 states achieved a seat belt use rate of 90% or higher. States with stronger seat belt enforcement laws tend to generally have higher rates of seat belt usage than the states with less strict laws. New Hampshire is the current only state that has no enforceable seat belt laws in a vehicle, which is why it’s no surprise it ranks the lowest in the 2017 national U.S. seat belt rates.
Buckle up Properly
It’s important that you are always wearing your seat belt correctly. Here are a few seat belt guidelines to follow:
- Make sure the lap or should belt are secured across the pelvis and rib cage
- The lap belt should be across your hips, not your stomach
- Always put the shoulder belt in front, not behind your back, shoulder, or under the arm
Safety Benefits of Seat Belt Use
Whether or not you are required by law to wear a seat belt, it is always wise to do so. A few benefits from wearing a seat belt are:
- Provides safety to all passengers in the vehicle
- Designed to work with airbags in the event of an impact
- May prevent a ticket for not wearing one
- Reduces the risks of severe injuries and death
As personal injury lawyers and advocates of road safety, we strongly encourage you all to always prioritize your safety on the road. So, minimize the risk of being injured, and buckle up.