The Nation - News from Dec. 14, 1987
Even more lives could be saved with tougher enforcement of seat belt laws, although an estimated 1,300 have been saved with current regulations, concluded a study by three researchers at the University of North Carolina. Laws penalizing motorists who don’t buckle up date back to a 1984 New York statute. The analysis, which traffic safety experts called one of the most comprehensive on the benefits of mandatory seat belt use laws to date, concludes that in 24 mandatory use states the laws have accounted directly for 6.6% fewer fatalities and 10% fewer serious injuries among front-seat occupants.
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