Overview

Improving occupant protection in Kentucky is the single most cost-effective emphasis area in terms of the potential number of lives that could be saved. The Kentucky Transportation Center estimates that approximately 279 lives could be saved each year if all drivers and passengers wore their safety belts. Currently only 66.7 percent of front seat occupants wear their safety belts, while the national average safety belt compliance amounts to 80 percent. In 2004, Kentucky was ranked 47th in safety belt use. The good news is that the percentage wearing of safety belts has shown a steady increase since 2000 when only 60 percent of front seat occupants wore seat belts.

As of 2005, Kentucky has yet to enact a primary enforcement safety belt law which would allow police to stop and ticket a driver for not wearing a safety belt, just like any other routine traffic violation. According to the NHTSA, the passage of primary safety belt law will result in an approximate increase of 11 percentage in safety belt usage which in turn would be expected to save 62 lives, prevent 740 serious injuries, and result in a cost saving of $148 million per year. In other words, Kentucky would achieve approximately 20% of its state goal by enacting a primary safety belt law.

Emphasis Area Goal

To increase safety belt usage rate to 80% by 2008.

Strategies

Maximize use of occupant restraints by all vehicle occupants.

• Increase emphasis on highly publicized enforcement campaigns to maximize restraint use (Click It or Ticket).
• Continue and expand public information and education campaigns to educate the general public and target groups about the importance of occupant protection.

Insure that restraints, especially child and booster restraints, are properly used.

• Upgrade child restraint law to include booster seats.
• Aggressively enforce the primary child safety seat law.
• Educate parents, caregivers, and grandparents about proper selection and installation of child safety and booster seats.
• Conduct high-profile child restraint inspection events at multiple community locations.
• Continue public safety and health care training to check for proper child restraint use in all motorist encounters.

Provide access to appropriate information, materials, and guidelines for those implementing programs to increase occupant restraint use.

• Create state-level clearing houses for materials that offer guidance in implementing programs to increase restraint use.
• Create uniform, clear, and consistent occupant protection informational materials including Kentucky specific brochures, fact sheets, and posters on safety belts, child/booster seats; and strategically placed “buckle-up highway signs”.

Maximize use of occupant restraints by teen drivers and teen vehicle occupants.

• Upgrade Graduated Driver License law to include primary safety belt component.
• Educate Graduated Driver License recipients about the mandatory safety belt use component of the law.
• Educate law enforcement about the primary use occupant protection component of Graduated Driver License.
• Aggressively enforce the primary use occupant protection component of the Graduated Driver License.

Performance Measures

• Number of injury/fatal/total crashes involving insufficient child restraints
• Number of injury/fatal/total crashes involving nonuse of safety belts
• Safety belt usage rate
• Number citations issued with insufficient child restraints
• Number of citations/warnings issued
• Number of CPS experts trained
• Number child seats checked
• Number outreach programs in the communities with needs
• Number technicians trained
• Number seats checked

Resources

Click here for brochures
Click here for public service announcements