VEHICLE-OCCUPANT FATALITIES AFTER LEGISLATION FOR COMPULSORY WEARING OF SEAT BELTS IN AUSTRALIA - DIFFERENT TRENDS BETWEEN THE SEXES

The protective value of legislation for compulsory wearing of seat belts has been supported by Australian and overseas experience. An evaluation of changes during the period from 1957 to 1977 in the incidence of road crash fatalities for male and female vehicle occupants in Victoria and the rest of Australia (that is, in Australia minus Victoria) is presented. Reduction in the number of fatalities and the fatality rate (number of fatalities per 10000 vehicles) for vehicle occupants has resulted largely from statistically significant decreases for male drivers and adult passengers, especially females. However, the fatality rates have remained within the 95 per cent confidence limits of expected post-legislation values for female drivers in Victoria and the rest of Australia, and for male adult passengers in the rest of Australia. There has been virtually no reduction in road crash fatalities for passengers less than 17 years of age. Hypotheses are advanced to explain these findings and further countermeasures are suggested (A). (TRRL)

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/0025729X
• Corporate Authors:

  Australasian Medical Publishing Company

  71-79 Arundel Street
  Glebe, New South Wales 2037,   Australia 
• Authors:
  • McDermott, F T
  • Hough, D
• Publication Date: 1979-12-1

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 571-575
• Serial:
  • Medical Journal of Australia
  • Volume: 2
  • Issue Number: 11
  • Publisher: Australasian Medical Publishing Company
  • ISSN: 0025-729X
  • Serial URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13265377

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Before and after studies; Children; Crashes; Drivers; Fatalities; Females; Gender; Human beings; Legislation; Manual safety belts; Traffic regulations; Trend (Statistics); Utilization; Vehicle occupancy; Vehicle occupants
• Uncontrolled Terms: Traffic laws
• Geographic Terms: Australia
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 8006: Australia; 1758: Child; 1772: Driver; 1602: Fatality; 1556: Legislation; 1787: Man; 1476: Safety belt; 6515: Trend (stat); 1715: Vehicle occupant; 1788: Woman
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Passenger Transportation; Research; Safety and Human Factors; Society; Vehicles and Equipment; I84: Personal Injuries; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00312305
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-030 272
• Files: HSL, ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 27 1983 12:00AM