In-flight upset - 154 km west of Learmonth, WA, 7 October 2008,

In terms of measures to increase seat belt use, the report concluded:Seat belt legislation and enforcement have been in existence in Australia andother countries for well over four decades. These appear to be the simplestand most cost-effective long-term approaches to increasing seat belt use rates,and can be enhanced by publicity and education campaigns to raise theawareness of the benefits of wearing seat belts.In addition, much research effort has been applied to the development andimplementation of seat belt reminder and interlock technologies.Unfortunately, only a few evaluations of their effectiveness have beenconducted, but of those available, it appears that reminder systems offeroverall high protective value, can achieve high levels of seat belt wearing, andtarget all groups of wearers from full-time and part-time wearers to consistentnon wearers. Reminder systems that are aggressive and adaptive (changingcharacteristics during a trip) appear to be optimal. Interlock systems appear tobenefit those most resistant to wearing seat belts in particular.The International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) recentlypublished a report summarising trends in road safety in 27 member countries. 237 Inthat report, each country included information regarding several aspects of roadsafety, including seat belt use. The Australian report noted that seat belt use wasestimated to be greater than 95% for front-seat occupants and more than 80% forrear-seat occupants. The Australian report also noted that:Despite high general usage rates, the rates of non-use among fatally injuredvehicle occupants are still estimated at 28%. Analysis indicates that this highfigure is the result of a high crash involvement rate among those who do notwear belts, as well as the fact that they are more likely to be killed if involvedin a crash.The seat belt use rates for several countries are included in Table L1. Cautionshould be used when comparing countries because data may have been collected indifferent ways and in different conditions. Overall, seat belt use in Australia andmajor European countries was higher than for the three Asian countries included inthe report (Japan, Korea and Malaysia), particularly for rear-seat passengers. Itshould be noted that seat belts in rear seats became mandatory in these Asiancountries since 2008 whereas they became mandatory in other countries earlier. Theextent to which these results apply to other Asian countries (such as India andSingapore), or to seat belt use on aircraft, is not clear.237IRTAD Annual Report 2009. IRTAD is a permanent working group of the Joint Research centreof the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International TrafficForum.- 280 -