Seatbelt Wearing Rates

DRIVERS AND PASSENGERS FRONT AND BACK SEATS INDIVIDUALLY, NOT WEARING SEATBELTS WHILE DRIVING, ALSO INVDIVIDUALLY FOR URBAN AND RURAL ROADS AND STREETS.

Province	Item	Drivers	Front passengers	Back passengers
Gauteng	Number	948	951	225
	Number not wearing	236	528	193
	% Not wearing	24.9%	55.5%	86.2%
KwaZulu-Natal	Number	1009	1009	250
	Number not wearing	176	484	247
	% Not wearing	17.4%	48.0%	98.8%
Western Cape	Number	1142	1144	229
	Number not wearing	200	583	215
	% Not wearing	17.5%	51.0%	93.9%
Eastern Cape	Number	1065	1068	399
	Number not wearing	127	464	396
	% Not wearing	11.9%	43.4%	99.2%
Free State	Number	900	903	903
	Number not wearing	174	357	891
	% Not wearing	19.3%	39.5%	98.7%
Mpumalanga	Number	1291	1305	367
	Number not wearing	194	622	308
	% Not wearing	15.0%	47.7%	83.9%
Limpopo	Number	826	835	178
	Number not wearing	163	405	156
	% Not wearing	19.7%	48.5%	87.6%
Northern Cape	Number	915	918	236
	Number not wearing	138	442	228
	% Not wearing	15.1%	48.1%	96.6%
National	Total observed	9079	6575	2968
National	Total not wearing	1533	4391	2811
Weighted national	% Not wearing	19.0%	49.9%	92.4%

The information reported in this table was obtained from the road blocks when vehicles were stopped for inspection. The driver wearing rate reported is exceptionally high. It is suspected that the wearing rate for drives is so high, because drivers had the opportunity to put on their seat belts while approaching the road blocks, or while waiting for the vehicle to be inspected. (During the road blocks there was normally a short waiting time before the surveyor started with the inspection of the vehicle.) It was therefore decided to verify the information thus obtained by doing an invisible survey of drivers wearing rates (i.e. where vehicles were not stopped, with the surveyor remaining unobserved). This survey started only later during the programme, with the result that two of the provinces (North West and Mpumalanga) could not be covered by this invisible survey.

The results were as follows:

Province	Item	Rural	Urban
Gauteng	Number	520	1300
	Number not wearing	212	653
	% Not wearing	40.8%	50.2%
KwaZulu-Natal	Number	615	1474
	Number not wearing	310	1000
	% Not wearing	50.4%	67.8%
Western Cape	Number	659	1564
	Number not wearing	380	1112
	% Not wearing	57.7%	71.1%
Eastern Cape	Number	621	1672
	Number not wearing	247	1074
	% Not wearing	39.8%	64.2%
Free State	Number	480	1400
	Number not wearing	215	1027
	% Not wearing	44.8%	73.4%
Limpopo	Number	480	1100
	Number not wearing	223	884
	% Not wearing	46.5%	80.4%
Northern Cape	Number	455	1232
	Number not wearing	300	923
	% Not wearing	65.8%	74.9%
National	Total observed	3830	9742
National	Total not wearing	1887	6673
Weighted national	% Not wearing	44.2%	59.6%

This table did not confirm the consistently low non-wearing rate which was found in the road block survey. The driver wearing rates during invisible surveys ranged from 40% (Eastern Cape, rural) to 80% (Limpopo, urban). No consistent pattern seems to exist. Although some high wearing rates have been recorded, it is clear that the seat belt situation has not been stabilised and is still far from ideal. Communication and law enforcement programmes have to continue emphasising the issue of seat belt wearing.

DETAIL ON SEATBELT WEARING RATES IN SOUTH AFRICA

		GA	KZ	WC	EC	FS	MP	NW	LI	NC	RSA
Seat belts: Driver(road block survey)(% offenders)	Results 10 / 1997	59	52	64	67						61
	Results 4 / 1998	59	46	44	58						54
	Present results	25	17	18	12	19	15	13	20	15	19
	Calculated X2 value	115	Critical X2 value (df=3):			8	Difference significant?			Yes, improved
Seat belt: Front passenger (% offenders)	Results 10 / 1997	67	63	65	74						69
	Results 12/1998	67	51	49	63						60
	Present results	56	48	51	43	40	48	51	49	48	50
	Calculated X2 value	19	Critical X2 value (df=3):			8	Difference significant?			Yes, improved

Calculated X2 for the observed data series is 85; critical X2 value for df = 6 is 13. This indicates of a highly significant difference.

An important feature of the information is the highly significant difference between urban and rural wearing rates4, with urban rates much lower than rural rates. Another interesting phenomenon is that the CBD wearing rates will often be very low, while wearing rates on urban access roads to high speed freeways will often be very high. The apparent explanation of these phenomena is that road users seem to believe that the seat belt is not really necessary at relatively lower speeds - the impact of crashes at lower speeds (40 - 60km/h) seems to be underestimated by road users. This misconception should specifically be addressed in communication programmes.

[Information kindly provided by the Arrive Alive National Fatal Accident Information Centre,National Department of Transport]

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