CDOT releases seat belt study showing 7% usage increase since 2014
News Release
To access the seat belt study, email [email protected]
Statewide — Improving seat belt usage in Colorado is key to reducing traffic deaths in the state. The most recent State of Colorado Statewide Seat Belt Survey indicates usage rates have increased by 7% in the last 10 years. In 2024, the overall seat belt use remains at 88%, the same as last year. However, there are some significant findings in this year’s report, including:
Usage in El Paso County, the state's largest, shot up 14 percentage points to a 93% usage rate, an unusual change in just one year. Seat belt use in 2023 was 79% in El Paso County.
In the last five years, there has been a steady increase in the number of counties with a 90% seat belt usage rate or higher. In 2020, only six counties had use rates above 90%. In 2024, fifteen counties scored above 90%.
Conversely, fewer counties are scoring below 80%, with only two falling below that level. Those two are Pueblo at 79% and Jefferson at 77%. It should be noted that Pueblo County seat belt use has increased by 12 percentage points from just two years ago when it stood at 67%.
The five counties with the highest usage rates are Eagle County (97.12%), Douglas County (96.9%), Grand County (96.51%), Fremont County (95.75%) and Park County (95.18%).
Seat belt use by front seat passengers is increasing, especially in pickup trucks where it increased 3% and in commercial vehicles, where it increased 8% in 2024. Overall, 90.17% of front seat passengers buckle up across all vehicle types, the highest usage rate since the beginning of passenger data tracking in 2021.
Since 2014, pick-up truck occupants are buckling up 11% more often, compared to occupants of other vehicles like SUVs, which saw an increase of about 5%.
“Although there was little change in seat belt use this year, Colorado is still making significant progress in the long term,” said CDOT’s Office of Transportation Safety Director Darrell Lingk. “Coloradans must continue to be vigilant about buckling up and remember that some crashes are unavoidable even among the best drivers.”
There have been 122 unbuckled traffic deaths through August 2024 in Colorado, compared to 145 in the same period last year, a nearly 19% decrease. In 2023, there were 216 unbuckled seat belt fatalities in Colorado.
Produced annually, the survey offers a detailed breakdown of seat belt usage across five vehicle categories (cars, vans, SUVs, passenger trucks and commercial) in the 26 Colorado counties with the most crash-related fatalities. This year, nearly 115,000 drivers and front seat passengers were observed.
“We could significantly reduce the number of traffic fatalities in our communities by just buckling up. Motorists in Colorado must be educated on the advantages of wearing a seat belt,” said Col. Matthew C. Packard, Chief of the Colorado State Patrol. “It doesn’t matter where or how far you drive because a crash can happen when you least expect it. Don’t let one irresponsible decision prevent your loved ones from seeing you again.”
In Colorado, the consequences of not wearing a seat belt range from fines to serious injury or death in the event of a crash. Studies show that seat belts reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passengers by 45%, making it essential to always buckle up.
The following are the 2024 seat belt usage rates of the 26 counties in the study, from highest to lowest:
- Eagle County: 97.12%
- Douglas County: 96.9%
- Grand County: 96.5%
- Fremont County: 95.75%
- Park County: 95.18%
- Arapahoe County: 94.58%
- Garfield County: 94.07%
- Chaffee County: 93.78%
- El Paso County: 93.43%
- Denver County: 91.74%
- Logan County: 90.33%
- Delta County: 90.2%
- La Plata County: 90.1%
- Morgan County: 90.1%
- Adams County: 90.03%
- Larimer County: 89.56%
- Costilla County: 89.5%
- Boulder County: 87.65%
- Montezuma County: 87.62%
- Montrose County: 87.55%
- Mesa County: 86.46%
- Las Animas County: 86.24%
- Otero County: 84.95%
- Weld County: 80.59%
- Pueblo County: 79.23%
- Jefferson County: 77%
Colorado’s seat belt laws
Colorado law requires the driver and every front seat passenger of a motor vehicle and the driver and every passenger in an autocycle equipped with a safety belt system to wear a seat belt whenever the vehicle is in operation on a street or highway.
- Adults — Colorado has a secondary enforcement law for adult drivers and front-seat passengers. Drivers can be ticketed for violating the seat belt law if they are stopped for another traffic violation.
- Teens — Colorado’s Graduated Drivers Licensing (GDL) law requires all drivers under 18 and their passengers, regardless of their age, to wear seat belts. This is a primary enforcement, meaning teens can be pulled over simply for not wearing a seat belt or having passengers without seat belts.
- Children — Colorado's Child Passenger Safety law is a primary enforcement, meaning the driver can be stopped and ticketed if an officer sees an unrestrained or improperly restrained child under age 18 in the vehicle.
Learn more about Colorado’s seat belt laws at codot.gov/safety/seatbelts.
Crash Not Accident
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