Contrasting beliefs and actions of drivers regarding seatbelts: a study in New Orleans.

To study the association between actual and claimed belt usage, to determine drivers' attitudes toward seatbelts, and to identify some of the factors associated with the use and nonuse of seatbelts, we administered a one-page questionnaire to 1,103 drivers attending their annual brake tag inspection in New Orleans, Louisiana. Actual belt use was unobtrusively recorded at the same time. Fifty-one per cent of drivers stated that they wore seatbelts always or most of the time, 52% agreed that seatbelts should be worn, and 28% favored mandatory seatbelt use. Yet only 5.4% of drivers were actually observed wearing seatbelts. Drivers who had experienced a previous auto injury that required a doctor's visit were 1.7 times as likely to be wearing seatbelts as those without prior injury, yet only 8% of the injured were wearing them. The results of the survey are discussed in relation to the discrepancy between attitudes towards seatbelts and observed seatbelt use.