THE FEDERAL SAFETY BELT RESEARCH PROGRAM: PAST RESULTS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Given the high life-saving and cost reduction potential of safety belt use, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) program of safety belt research has attracted considerable national attention. Formulated to support and guide the significant Federal outreach and networking effort to promote voluntary belt usage, NHTSA research has focused on the most cost-effective methods of encouraging use of belts and on the most efficient ways of implementing these methods at both the national and the local levels. Many of the initial foundations of this research program and preliminary results of the first round of projects were reported in a manuscript by the same author published in June 1982 by the Society of Automotive Engineers and in an address to the American Psychological Association Annual Convention in August 1982. This paper will build upon these past reports, noting both the conclusions and recommendations of completed projects and the new directions of ongoing NHTSA-sponsored safety belt research.