Arkansas Safety Facts

1
Arkansas Safety Facts
January 2009
Arkansas seat belt use rate remains consistently
lower than the national average.
NHTSA estimates that if Arkansas were to pass a
primary seat belt law, belt usage could rise by
approximately 12 percentage points.
In 2000, crashes cost Arkansas 2 billion
About 735 for each resident

• With a primary seat belt law, each year Arkansas
  would save about
• 47 lives
• 504 serious injuries
• 104 million in costs
• (Based on an 11.8 percentage point increase from
  the 2008 AR seat belt use rate.)

SAFETEA-LU provides State incentives for the
enactment and enforcement of primary seat belt
laws. If Arkansas passes a primary law, the
state would receive about 9.5 Million
2
76.5 of Arkansas motor vehicle traffic
fatalities are in rural areas. The fatality
rate in rural areas is more than twice the rate
in urban locations. Source 2007 FARS Data
51 of Arkansas passenger vehicle occupant
fatalities are in passenger cars. Source 2007
FARS Data
In Arkansas, a much larger percentage of pickup
truck fatalities are unrestrained compared to
passenger car fatalities. Source 2007 FARS Data
73 of nighttime fatalities are unrestrained in
Arkansas compared to 55 of daytime
fatalities. Source 2007 FARS Data