Prevalencia del uso del cinturón de seguridad en tres sectores del Area Oriente de Santiago

Abstract

The use of seat belts by drivers and front- seat passengers in private cars was studied in three sectors of the Eastern Area of Santiago. 5.136 vehicles were registered, and 963 drivers and 569 front-seat passengers were interviewed. The overall use of the seat belt was found to be 23.2% for the driver and 16.8% for the passenger. This is a statistically significant drop in the use of seat belts by the driver compared to a figure of 35.4% found in a similar study last year. The use of the seat belt by the driver was further analyzed, showing that 20.1% of drivers use a seat belt when driving alone, 23.1 % when driving a front-seat passenger, rising to 28.7% when driving with a front-seat passenger and a third person, and to 39.9 % when driving with a back- seat passenger only. The percentage of use increases in relation to the level of education: from 8.3 % with primary school education, to 181% with high school education, and to 27.3% with college education. Other factors, su0h as age, sex, work-day or holiday were analyzed but were not found to be related statistically to the use of seat belts.