Citation

Fhaner G, Hane M. Accid. Anal. Prev. 1973; 5(4): 267-285.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1973, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Two complementary studies were undertaken to investigate the relative importance of situational and individual factors in seat belt usage in private cars. In the first study, 75 car owners, drawn from the car register in Uppsala answered a questionnaire including items concerning their belt usage in various situations. The major situational difference was found to be between city and highway situations with only small variations within each environment. Point estimates of variance showed that the major proportion of the reported usage variation was due to individual factors.A coefficient of internal consistency approaching unity indicated unidimensionality of the variables. A hypothetical model was presented that accounted for the results in terms of two latent variables, disposition for belt use and difficulty of situation.The second study was conducted to get some indication of the validity of the verbal reports. Observations of belt use were made on 13 mornings during a three month period, and 105 of those who had passed regularly were later identified and answered a questionnaire, including some of the items of the first study. The results of the cross-validation supported the model. The correspondance between reported and observed belt use was relatively high, r = 0.73 in this non-random sample. Despite a tendency to overestimate usage, it was concluded that verbal reports could be used as indicators of seat belt use.