Engineering Commons^™

Economic Costs Of Low Safety Belt Usage In Motor Vehicle Crashes In Kentucky, Michael Singleton, Qing Xiao, Kenneth R. Agent

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

By passing legislation in 2006 to mandate primary enforcement of the Kentucky state law requiring safety belt use for motor vehicle occupants, the state could expect to realize an overall savings of at least $118 million in direct medical costs over the ten-year period from 2006 to 2015. Charges to Medicaid over that period would be about $34 million less than under the current secondary enforcement model. In addition, there would be at least $67 million saved in medical costs to commercial insurers, $2.3 million to Medicare, $3.3 million to Worker’s Compensation, and $11.2 million to other sources.

These savings …

2005 Safety Belt Usage Survey In Kentucky, Kenneth R. Agent, Eric R. Green

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The objective of this study was to establish 2005 safety belt and child safety seat usage rates in Kentucky. The 2005 survey continues to document the results after enactment of a statewide mandatory safety belt law in 1994 and safety belt enforcement campaign. Data were collected at 200 randomly selected sites spread across Kentucky. Data from the individual sites were combined into a statewide percentage considering roadway functional classification, geographic region, and vehicle miles traveled. The data show that the usage rate in 2005 (66.7 percent) was slightly higher than that in 2004 (66.0 percent). This compares to 65.5 percent …