title: Benefits of seat belt reminder systems.
abstract: This study sought to determine whether fitting a more aggressive seat belt reminder system to new vehicles would be cost-beneficial for Australia. While seat belt wearing rates have been observed around 95% in the front seat, non-wearing rates in casualty crashes are as high as 33% among persons killed and 19% among seriously injured occupants. Benefits were computed for three device options (simple, simple-2 and complex) and three introduction scenarios (driver-only, front seat occupants and all occupants). Four levels of effectiveness were assumed, from 10% to 40%, depending on the type of device fitted. Unit benefits were computed assuming a 5% discount rate and a 15yr fleet life. Various industry experts provided the costs. The findings showed that Benefit-Cost-Ratios ranged from 4.0:1 at best (simple device for the driver only) to 0.9:1 for all seating positions. These figures are conservative, given the assumptions made and the discounted human capital methods used.
authors.affiliation: Monash University Accident Research Centre, Melbourne Australia.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fildes
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fitzharris
authors.forename: Sjaanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koppel
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vulcan
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brooks
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000191:economics*; D001315:Australia; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004867:Equipment Design / Q000191:economics; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D017010:Reminder Systems / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012622:Seat Belts / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000191:economics* / Q000517:prevention & control*