Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory awarded grant to track seat belt use, distracted drivers

March 21, 2025

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Jennifer Phillips

Media Relations Manager, Emory Healthcare

ATLANTA – Emory researchers are doing their part to monitor safety on Georgia’s roadways, thanks to a grant from the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS). GOHS has awarded the Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory (IPRCE) $301,432 to measure the rates of seat belt use and track distracted drivers.

This will be the fourth year that IPRCE has researched seat belt usage and driver distraction using roadside observations.

“Our past observations found that seat belt use for drivers and right front passengers in Georgia during daylight hours increased slightly from 87.6% in 2023 to 88.8% in 2024,” says Jonathan Rupp, PhD, director of IPRCE and vice chair of Innovation and Discovery, Emergency Medicine, Emory University. “Over the same time period, rates of hand-held cell phone use by Georgia drivers were relatively unchanged (6.8% in 2023 vs. 6.6% in 2024). We hope this data will help the state target efforts to increase seat belt usage and decrease distraction.” Rupp is also the principal investigator of this research grant.

Trained roadside observers will go to 400 sites in 20 counties throughout Georgia between May and August 2025 to collect data. At busy intersections, they will document who is wearing a seat belt in the front seat and who is not, and if a driver is distracted. Those results, including demographics such as age and gender, are shared with GOHS and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to implement or promote programs and policies to increase seat belt use and decrease distracted driving.

“Part of the GOHS mission is to assist in the implementation of programs and campaigns designed to prevent crashes and eliminate traffic deaths on our roads,” says Allen Poole, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. “GOHS will continue to develop new collaborations and continue existing ones in order to create, refine and implement safety programs designed to help our state and nation reach our goal of zero traffic deaths.”

2024 seat belt use findings in Georgia showed:

Seat belt use was higher for right-front passengers (92.3%) than drivers (88.7%)
Seat belt use was highest in SUVs (92.3%) and lowest in trucks (82.8%)
Seat belt use was higher for women (90.6%) than for men (87.3%)
Seat belt use was highest among those 8-15 years of age (92.6%), followed by those over 70 years (91.8%), those 25-69 years (89.0%), and those 16-24 years (82.4%)

2024 hand-held device use in Georgia showed:

6% of drivers were observed texting/dialing or talking on a hand-held device
Hand-held device use was higher for women (7.5%) than for men (5.9%)
Hand-held device use in metro Atlanta was 7.4%

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that 29,135 people died in traffic crashes in the United States during the first nine months of 2024, which is a 4.4% decrease compared to the same period in 2023.

Roadside observations of seat belt use will be performed in the following 20 Georgia counties until September 2025: Cobb, DeKalb, Early, Floyd, Gwinnett, Habersham, Haralson, Harris, Hart, Monroe, Morgan, Murray, Peach, Polk, Richmond, Rockdale, Spalding, Thomas, Ware and Worth.

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