SafeCommunities.org EXCLUSIVE

Traffic safety professionals throughout North Dakota had reason to cheer today, when it was announced that seat belt usage rates are up 8.9 percentage points over last year.

According to a preliminary analysis of observation data collected in June, the combined seat belt usage rate for North Dakota is 76.3%. Broken down further, 75.8% of drivers and 79.4% of passengers wear their seat belts.

“We’re thrilled,” said Project Coordinator Deb Nelson of DLN Consulting, “after triple checking the calculations, my staff joined hands and danced around the office. They are all just so excited.”

Nelson cautioned that the figures should be considered preliminary, but “everything points to their accuracy at this point.”

“We still have a lot of work to do to complete the overall report; we haven’t addressed any of the variables yet. The county results have been calculated, but are too preliminary to be released just yet,” Nelson added.

Dawn Olson, Traffic Safety Manager at the North Dakota Department of Transportation, attributes these encouraging figures to a combinations of factors, including the ‘Click It or Ticket’ campaign and May Mobilization, which the state has been participating in for the past five years.

"This significant increase in North Dakota’s seat belt use rate is truly the result of a lot of hard work, patience, and dedication from all traffic safety partners. Finally, we are able to demonstrate through this increase how all of our combined efforts make a difference," said Olson.

A detailed analysis is underway to further confirm these findings, followed by a full annual report, which will outline usage rates per county. Of the 53 counties in North Dakota, 16 are randomly selected and approved by NHTSA for observation each year.