When the Driver Doesn’t Buckle Up, Neither Do the Passengers, UB Study Finds

BUFFALO, N.Y. - "Friends don't let friends -- or their spouses or children -- drive unbelted."

That should be the theme of a public-education campaign aimed at increasing seatbelt use, according to an industrial engineer who recently completed a study on the subject while pursuing graduate work at the University at Buffalo.

It is widely known among safety and human-factors experts that while seatbelt use in other industrialized countries is around 90 percent, it typically falls closer to 70 percent in the U.S.

The UB study was conducted to determine how passengers are affected by drivers' use or non-use of seatbelts.

"People do seem to model, that is, imitate each other, with seatbelt use," said study author Kate Kritkausky.

Kritkausky found that passengers were 20 percent more likely to drive unbelted if the driver was unbelted than they were if the driver had buckled up.

"We call this negative modeling," said Kritkausky. "It seems that people are less inhibited when they see the driver not wearing a seatbelt."

In addition, passengers said they would be significantly less likely to wear a seatbelt if the driver was someone of authority.

That finding is particularly significant, Kritkausky said.

"People need to be aware of their negative influence on each other and especially on their children, who will certainly model their behavior," she said.

She began the research, which became the basis of her master's thesis, after doing an experiment for a human-factors course in which it became clear that drivers and passengers exhibit the same behavior with seatbelts.

"In the overwhelming number of cases, drivers and passengers behave exactly the same with regard to seatbelt use," said Colin Drury, Ph.D., professor of industrial engineering at UB, who taught the course and served as Kritkausky's thesis advisor.

"So you have no idea whose behavior is being modeled," he said.

Kritkausky designed her study so that it might be able to address that question.

The study, which involved 50 subjects, was one of the most comprehensive conducted of seatbelt use because it included three parts:

• An observational study in UB's parking lots and on city streets where seatbelt behavior of passengers and drivers was recorded.

• An experimental study in which a driver, who either was purposely belted or unbelted, picked up a study subject and drove a short distance.

• A questionnaire in which subjects reported on their seatbelt use and general health and risk-taking behaviors. Unlike some previous studies, Kritkausky's study did not find a relationship between seatbelt use and such behavior.

In the observational study, Kritkausky compared seatbelt use on campus to seatbelt use in the community.

As has been demonstrated in other studies, she found that seatbelt use increased with the level of education. On-campus, the rate was about 82 percent, while on city streets, the rate was 74 percent -- precisely the national average.

Kritkausky, who received her master's degree from UB last month, now is working for a consulting firm that specializes in safety and ergonomics. She landed the position after company officials attended a presentation of her research at an academic conference.