STAR-BULLETIN / JANUARY 2002 As part of a Leilehua High School project in January, Kalisha Bolfa, right, passed out candy to students wearing seat belts, including Jocelyn Villegas, left, and driver Todd Masada.

Isle seat-belt usage
soars to 90.4 percent,
the most in 17 years

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By Rosemarie Bernardo
rbernardo@starbulletin.com

Hawaii is the third state -- after California and Oregon -- to raise its seat belt usage rate above 90 percent, said state Transportation Director Brian Minaai.

Seat belt usage has increased to 90.4 percent this year from 82.5 percent last year -- the highest rate of recorded seat belt use in the last 17 years, based on the 2002 Highway Safety Usage Studies.

But bicyclists' use of helmets dropped to 20.3 percent from 25.4 percent. Members of the University of Hawaii's Department of Urban & Regional Planning collected data covering safety usage of seat belts, child restraints, helmets and truck beds. More than 50,000 vehicles at 135 sites throughout the state were observed by a survey team.

"Despite this accomplishment, we still have a long way to go to significantly reduce injuries and deaths on our highways," Minaai said.

The report is based on two seat belt surveys conducted from January to March and then again in July after the "Click It or Ticket" campaign was held from May 13 to June 6 to reduce the number of deaths in accidents.

"It was a successful campaign. It achieved the desired results," said Karl Kim, professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.

Kauai showed the highest rate among the neighbor islands for seat belt use at 92.7 percent, up from 87.7 percent. Honolulu's rate rose to 91.1 percent from 83.5 percent. Seat belt use in Maui also increased to 87.7 percent from 77.6 percent.

The report also revealed the use of child safety seats has increased to 66 percent from 43.2 percent. Children under 4 must be in a child safety seat in a vehicle.

Restraint rates for children increased to 90.9 percent from 81.8 percent. Children over 4 must be restrained by seat belts.

Also, rates for toddlers in safety seats increased to 59.5 percent from 34.8 percent.

Though a new law requires helmet use by bicyclists under the age of 16, the rate plummeted 5.1 percent this year while helmet use among motorcyclists and moped riders increased.

Helmet use among motorcyclists jumped to 42.3 percent from 36.5 percent. Among moped riders, helmet use increased to 10.1 percent from 8.4 percent.

Statewide, truck bed ridership dropped to 0.67 percent from 1.6 percent last year. Results also revealed 0.2 percent of observed trucks had children in the bed illegally. Children 12 and under are not allowed to ride in the beds of trucks.

Kauai had the highest overall use rate of children illegally in a truck bed at 1.22 percent.

For more information, go to the Web site www.state.hi.us/ dot/publicaffairs/safecommunities/studies.htm.