Effects of Imitative Behavior on Seat Belt Usage: Three Field Observational Studies

Three field observational studies were conducted to examine the influence of a front seat car passenger (model) seat belt usage/non-usage on driver seat belt usage. In addition, the effects of driving location (study 1 and 2), time of day (study 1), day of week (study 2) and gender (study 3) were also examined. The results showed an overall seat belt use rate of about 70%, typical for New York State. All three studies showed that driver seat belt usage was significantly related to the front seat passenger seat belt rate. When the front-seat passenger wore the seat belt, 77% (79.4%-study 2, 87.1%-study 3) of the drivers wore the seat belt; when the front seat passenger did not wear the seat belt, only 44% (49.0%-study 2, 38.4%-study 3) of the drivers wore the seat belt. Results failed to show any significant effects of time of the day or day of week, but showed the expected significant effect of driving location (study 2). No overall main effect of gender on modeling was obtained, though interesting specific results were obtained. These studies extend earlier experimental work on the effects of modeling on seat belt usage, and confirm that car occupant seat belt behavior significantly impacts the other occupant's seat belt usage.