Buckling up has never been more in vogue in North Carolina. Here’s how we know.
The use of seat belts has reached an all-time high in North Carolina.
Nearly 93% of drivers and their front-seat passengers were wearing seat belts during an annual survey conducted by researchers at N.C. State University for the Governor’s Highway Safety Program. Drivers were slightly more likely to wear safety belts than their front-seat passengers, according to the survey, which does not include passengers in rear seats.
The decision to buckle up matters, because people who don’t wear seat belts are more likely to die or be seriously injured in crashes.
Of the 1,140 people killed in crashes while riding in cars and trucks last year in North Carolina, 43% weren’t wearing seat belts, according to data compiled by the Division of Motor Vehicles.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires states to conduct annual seat belt surveys to qualify for federal highway safety money. North Carolina’s rate first topped 90% in 2014 and has since waxed and waned, dropping as low as 87.1% in 2020. It has steadily risen since then.
“This milestone shows that North Carolina is working to develop a culture of safety on our roads,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in a written statement about the 2024 survey. “People who buckle up protect themselves and others, and I’m proud more North Carolinians are making the safe choice.”
State law requires everyone in a vehicle equipped with seat belts to wear them. Drivers and front-seat passengers caught not wearing one face a penalty of $25.50 plus court fees several times that amount.
The annual survey is carried out by N.C. State’s Institute for Transportation Research and Education. Researchers stand along roads in 15 counties — five each in the western, central and eastern parts of the state — and look into passing cars, vans, SUVs and pickups to determine if drivers and their front-seat passengers are wearing belts.
The observers use their best judgment to estimate the age of the driver, said Brendan Kearns, who was involved in the survey for ITRE. They found that young drivers (age 16 through 24) had the highest rate of seat belt use at 94.4%, and that those 65 and older had the lowest (91%).
Women drivers (94.1%) were more likely to wear seat belts than men (91.5%), according to the survey.
North Carolina first required everyone in the front seat of a car or truck to wear a seat belt in 1985. Over the following decade, the rate of traffic deaths per crash in the state declined by about a third, according to the DMV.
