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20th Anniversary of Watershed Year for Highway Safety

190,000 Fewer Lives Have Been Lost as a  Result

July 9, 2004

This month marks the 20th anniversary of a watershed year for highway safety that witnessed the implementation of a key federal rule that led to air bags in vehicles, the enactment of the first state seat belt law, and the signing of a federal law that resulted in the national implementation of a 21-year-old drinking age.

Today, the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign of the National Safety Council released new data estimating that there have been 190,000 fewer traffic deaths since 1984 as a result of these landmark measures.

"July 1984 was a pivotal moment for highway safety in the United States in which the federal government made a policy decision that it was going to reduce the number of traffic fatalities through either strong seat belt laws or air bags, and in the end we got both," said Chuck Hurley, Executive Director of the National Safety Council's Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign. "Air bags, seat belts, and the push for a higher drinking age really amounted to what can be called a 'traffic safety trifecta' -- and the winners have been tens of thousands of Americans who have been saved from injury and death."

On July 11, 1984, then U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole issued the occupant crash protection Standard 208, which aimed to reduce fatalities through enactment of seat belt laws or the introduction of passive restraints such as air bags. Standard 208 stated that passive restraints such as air bags would be phased in unless two-thirds of the nation's population was covered by strong seat belt laws by April 1, 1989. The next day, July 12, then New York Gov. Mario Cuomo signed the first state law requiring the use of seat belts. Less than a week later, on July 17, 1984, former President Ronald Reagan took a critical step to make Americans safer when he signed the National Uniform Minimum Drinking Age Act, which came to be known as the 21 Minimum Drinking Age Law. It imposed sanctions on states that failed to raise the drinking age to 21.

According to National Safety Council estimates, since 1984, 157,500 lives have been saved by seat belts, and 18,000 as a result of the drinking-age increase. And according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), more than 14,500 lives have been saved by air bags. In 1984, national seat belt use was only 14 percent. Today, 79 percent of the country buckles up, all but one state has an adult seat belt use law, and more than 149 million (68.2 percent of vehicle fleet) cars and light trucks have driver-side air bags. Of these, 127 million also have passenger-side air bags. Twenty-one states plus the District of Columbia have a primary seat belt law that enables law enforcement officers to ticket motorists based solely on an observed seat belt violation, just as they do any other motor vehicle law.

The Campaign stressed that the most effective way to continue to save lives on the nation's roadways is through enactment and enforcement of strong seat belt laws. "A primary seat belt law is likely to save more lives than possibly any other single piece of legislation a state will consider," said Hurley. "While it's important to reflect on the tremendous progress we've made over the last 20 years, we must focus our attention now on giving law enforcement in all states the tools they need to save lives."

According to a study by the National Safety Council, states that have enacted primary laws since 1995 on average experienced a 15-percentage point increase in belt use. Seat belts are proven to reduce the risk of serious injury or death in a crash by 45 percent in passenger cars and 60 percent in light trucks, and the study shows 12,177 lives were lost from 1995-2002 because 30 states had failed to enact the stronger seat belt use laws.

The Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, a program of the National Safety Council, is a public/private partnership of automotive manufacturers, insurance companies, child safety seat manufacturers, government agencies, health professionals and child health and safety organizations. The goal of the Campaign is to increase the proper use of safety belts and child safety seats and to inform the public about how to maximize the lifesaving capabilities of air bags while minimizing the risks.

Source: U.S. Newswire