Products Liability Law Daily Wrap Up, NOTICES—MOTOR VEHICLE EQUIPMENT—NHTSA to request OMB approval of information collection on seat belt use reporting, (Apr 29, 2022)

By WK Editorial Staff

The agency seeks to determine whether the inclusion of seat belt status in news reports on fatal crashes could affect seat belt use.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that it will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), for review and approval, a new information collection titled “Fatal Crash Seat Belt Use Reporting and Awareness.” A Federal Register notice soliciting public comments on the information collection was published in September 2021 [see Products Liability Law Daily’s October 4, 2021 analysis], but no comments were received (NHTSA Notice, 87 FR 16821, March 24, 2022).

NHTSA is seeking approval to collect information from 1,500 participants from two seat belt user groups-750 who are full-time users and 750 who are occasional or non-users-for a one-time voluntary experiment to understand whether the inclusion of seat belt status in a fatal crash news report could affect seat belt use. NHTSA will contact a sample of 20,850 potential participants from a marketing research firm's panel with an invitation email and screening questions to identify adult volunteers who regularly drive a passenger vehicle. Recruiting participants for the experiment has an estimated burden of 348 hours for the invitation email and 70 hours for the screening questions. (An estimated 20 percent of the invited potential participants will be interested in participating in the study and will complete the screener form, i.e., 4,170 potential participants.) An estimated 1,668 potential participants will read the consent form, with an estimated burden of 139 hours. The 1,500 participants will complete the experiment, with an estimated burden of 500 hours.

Survey details. The experiment involves a 40-question online survey that participants will complete in their own homes using their personal computers. Participants will read one of three fictitious news reports of crashes (some of which involve fatalities) to gauge whether including seat belt use in news reports has the potential to increase belt use by occasional and non-seat belt users. After reading the news report, participants will report: (1) their recollection of belt use in the news report they read; (2) their own seat belt use; (3) their intentions to use belts; (4) their attitudes about seat belts; and (5) their demographic information.

An approved Institutional Review Board (IRB), Advarra, has reviewed the study and determined that the research project is exempt from IRB oversight. NHTSA will summarize the results of the collection using aggregate statistics in a final report to be distributed to NHTSA program and regional offices, State Highway Safety Offices, and other traffic safety stakeholders. This collection will inform the development of countermeasures, particularly in the areas of communications and outreach, for increasing seat belt use and reducing fatalities and injuries associated with the lack of seat belt use.

Need for survey and use of results. In 2019, 22,215 occupants of passenger vehicles (passenger cars, pickup trucks, vans, and SUVs) died in motor vehicle crashes in the United States. Of those killed where restraint status was known, 47 percent were unrestrained at the time of the fatal crash. NHTSA estimates that seat belts saved the lives of 14,955 passenger vehicle occupants aged 5 and older in 2017 (latest data available), and, if all passenger vehicle occupants aged 5 and older had worn seat belts, an additional 2,549 lives could have been saved.

According to NHTSA, this project supports the agency’s efforts to increase occupant protection by examining factors related to seat belt use. Previous research in this area indicated that news organizations may not report seat belt use in many of the driving fatalities they cover. That said, the research conducted previously involved data from 1999 through 2002, which may be out of date with current practices. Many stakeholders assume that increased reporting of seat belt usage in fatal crashes, especially when seat belts were not worn, could increase seat belt use. In addition, when seat belt status has been reported in a news report, it is not clear that individuals are paying attention. Improving awareness of seat belt status, particularly involving unbelted fatalities, may be an effective countermeasure that may encourage individuals to wear seat belts.

The information from this collection will assist NHTSA in: (1) planning seat belt program activities; (2) supporting groups involved in improving public safety; and (3) identifying countermeasure strategies that are most acceptable and effective in increasing seat belt use.

Time burden and cost estimates. NHTSA expects that the total number of burden hours for this one-time information collection will be about 1,057 hours. The collection does not involve recordkeeping or disclosure. The agency also estimates that there will be no costs to respondents beyond the time spent participating in the study.

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