SAFETY BELTS AND TURN SIGNALS: DRIVER DISPOSITION AND THE LAW

One of the more interesting behavioral issues in traffic safety is the use of safety belts. Engaging in this behavior involves a good deal of personal choice by the driver, given that most statutes call for secondary enforcement of mandatory use laws. A similar situation exists with respect to turn signal use, where drivers are rarely cited for failure to use turn signals except as secondary to an accident or some other violation. Because the use of safety belts and turn signals involves a great deal of personal choice by drivers, it was thought that these behaviors reflect certain aspects of a driver's disposition and should, therefore, be positively correlated. From this rationale, it was hypothesized that there would be a significant and positive relationship between the tendency to use safety belts and the tendency to use turn signals. Field observation of driver behavior supported this hypothesis in two separate studies conducted before and after the enforcement of Indiana's mandatory use safety belt law. Even though the use of safety belts increased after the law went into effect, those drivers who did not use safety belts still tended not to use turn signals. Finally, a discussion of the policy implications of these findings draws upon the growing body of literature in areas that may offer useful analogies--motorcycle helmet laws, drunk driving legislation--in an attempt to focus the promotion of safety belt use.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1989/1210/1210-006.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=SAFETY+BELTS+AND+TURN+SIGNALS%3A+DRIVER+DISPOSITION+AND+THE+LAW&author=J.+Fricker&author=R.+Larsen&publication_year=1989
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309048060
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1210, Safety Issues: Pedestrians, Law Enforcement, Seat Belts, Elderly Drivers, and Economics. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

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  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Fricker, Jon D
  • Larsen, Randy J
• Publication Date: 1989

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 47-52
• Monograph Title: SAFETY ISSUES: PEDESTRIANS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, SEAT BELTS, ELDERLY DRIVERS, AND ECONOMICS
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1210
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Before and after studies; Behavior; Drivers; Field studies; Law enforcement; Laws; Manual safety belts; Turn signals; Utilization
• Geographic Terms: Indiana
• Old TRIS Terms: Field observation
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Research; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00491235
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0-309-04806-0
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 28 1990 12:00AM