National Occupant Protection Use Survey: 2007

The U.S. Department of Transportation has released results from its annual occupant protection survey that indicates that the national seat belt use rate has increased to an all time high and more motorcyclists are wearing their helmets.  According to the survey, an additional three million more Americans wore seat belts last year as seat belt use rose to 82.4 percent, an increase of 1.2 percentage points.  Additionally, the survey results showed that motorcycle helmet use increased 7 percentage points to 58 percent.