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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Automating Statewide Seat Belt Monitoring </title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2665665</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Despite some recent improvements, seat belt usage in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana remains below the national average of 91.9%. These relatively low usage rates position three of the Southern Plains Transportation Center (SPTC) region states among the states with the lowest seat belt compliance, highlighting the need for enhanced safety initiatives and monitoring methods. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requires annual statewide surveys of seat belt use to be eligible for federal funding for highway safety programs, funds that are used for traffic safety campaigns and enforcement programs.   

This project aims to enhance traffic safety programs aimed at education and enforcement of seat belt use. This project will automate statewide seat belt monitoring using Connected Vehicle (CV) and crash report data. CV and crash report data have the potential to reduce data collection burdens for seat belt use monitoring which is used for enforcement and education programs. The project tasks are to (1) implement a full-scale survey of seat belt engagement chain of event processes, and (2) develop mathematical models to estimate the relationship between observational seat belt use and belt use reported by crash reports. Replacing manual observations that are currently used to collect statewide seatbelt use data with continuous CV event and/or crash report data will enable more temporally and spatially continuous observations of seat belt usage. 

This project builds on SPTC Cycle 2 work which established a pilot project to evaluate seat belt engagement chain of events through naturalistic driving study and developed an exploratory model of observed seat belt use and seat belt use reported in crash records using historical data. The pilot project established survey protocols, equipment specifications for dashboard cameras, collected data for a small number of participants (<15 samples), and established a numerical relationship between observed and crash reported belt use.  The proposed work will expand the sample size for both the naturalistic driving experiments and modeling efforts. Cycle 2 outcomes directly support this next step, allowing the project to move from exploratory analysis toward a more operational modeling framework. ]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 04 Feb 2026 15:21:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2665665</guid>
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      <title>Advancing the Motorcoach Seatbelt Promotional Campaign on Regularly Scheduled Routes and Charter Services in New England to Reduce Fatalities and Injury Severity</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2472697</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Despite federal mandates requiring seatbelt installation on new motorcoaches since 2016, passenger seatbelt usage remains critically low, with rates under 5% compared to 90% in automobiles. This study seeks to improve motorcoach safety by developing and testing a set of promotional actions, implemented onboard, at boarding platforms, and in terminals, to encourage seatbelt use. The project will measure the impact of these actions through pre- and post-intervention seatbelt usage counts across New England routes and explore opportunities for state and federal regulatory support. By disseminating an expanded promotional kit and engaging stakeholders, the research aims to establish industry-wide best practices for seatbelt promotion, supporting the intent of safety regulations and reducing fatalities and injuries in motorcoach travel.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 09 Dec 2024 10:12:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2472697</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Office of Behavioral Safety Research Topic Area Meetings: Older Drivers, Novice Drivers, Distracted Drivers, &amp; Seat Belt Use</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2256372</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The objective of this project is to plan and hold four (4) one-day meetings, one for each of the following topic areas: Older Adults’ Mobility, Novice Driver Safety, Distracted Driving, and Seat Belt Use. Meeting participants will present findings from recently concluded projects, ongoing research activities, and planned projects related to each of the relevant topic areas. The meetings will be held around the time of, and near the site of, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting to facilitate attendance of those attending TRB. Following the meetings, four (4) Meeting Summary Reports summarizing the presentations and discussions will be developed and distributed.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 28 Sep 2023 13:30:09 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2256372</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Social Norming for Seat Belt use</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2256371</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The objective of this Task Order is to provide the basis for one or more future social norming occupant protection programs. To this end, it will involve creating a set of documents, based on review of existing empirical research and theory pertaining to social norming in traffic safety and other domains, to inform the development and implementation of social norming programs to increase seat belt use. The documents will include a practitioner’s resource for social norming program development, two social norming strategy frameworks to guide future program development, two implementation plans to guide the implementation of the social norming strategies, and theory-based assessments of two current or previously conducted social norming traffic safety programs.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 28 Sep 2023 13:26:29 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2256371</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Evaluation of Seat Belt Elongation for Rear Seat Occupants (VRTC)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2050294</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Conduct additional tensile tests on seat belt assemblies and sled tests with the ECE R16 and/or vehicle rear seat bucks to evaluate the relationship between belt elongation and rear seat occupant protection; compare the US and European standards.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 25 Oct 2022 10:24:46 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2050294</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Evaluation of New York's Rear Seat Belt Law</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1856724</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project examines the effectiveness the New York seat belt law change in increasing rear seat belt use by
1. Conducting a process evaluation to document the implementation of the program
including, but not limited to, enforcement efforts/activities and communications;
and
2. Conducting an outcome evaluation including changes in seat belt use as measured
by observation surveys.
The results will be summarized in a final report.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jun 2021 15:23:11 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1856724</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Virtual Reality Interactive Display - "Make the Connection" Seat Belt Demonstration
</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1507999</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The objective of this proposed project is to create an immersive experience for a general user employing portable VR technology to demonstrate the lifesaving aspects of wearing a seat belt in case of a crash. Additionally, the solution developed must have the ability to be easily portable to different fidelity like a phone headset and handheld controller, remote kiosk based installation at a few locations like rest areas and DMV offices, a mobile “VR RV” or van, or even internet based content delivered to public.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 05 Apr 2018 10:20:12 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1507999</guid>
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