An Analysis of Safety Restraint Use and Effects in Passenger Vehicle Accidents in New York State

Police reported accident data in New York State shows that the use of safety restraints increased by more than five times for occupants of all accident involved vehicles after implementation of mandatory restraint laws.

The use of safety restraints by occupants of accident involved vehicles of all types, passenger cars and rear seats of passenger cars, resulted in reductions of the incidence of injuries, deaths, serious injuries and moderate injuries.

Comparisons of the effectiveness of lap belts, harnesses and belt-harness combinations used by rear seat occupants of passenger cars show no consistent pattern of superior performance of any one type of restraint.