CDC: U.S. seat belt use up to 85 percent

ATLANTA, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Eighty-five percent of U.S. adults report that they always wear a seat belt when driving or riding in a motor vehicle, federal health officials say.

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said seat belt use has become the national norm, although seat belt use varies among states, with a high of 94 percent in Oregon and a low of 59 percent in North Dakota.

A U.S. adult is treated in an emergency department for crash-related injuries every 14 seconds.

"A simple step that most drivers and passengers in the United States already take buckling their seat belts cuts in half the chance of being seriously injured or killed in a crash," Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the CDC, said in a statement. "Yet, about 1 in 7 adults do not wear a seat belt on every trip."

States with primary seat belt enforcement laws -- police officers can issue tickets solely because drivers and passengers are unbelted -- have higher rates of seat belt use than states with secondary enforcement laws -- officers can only issue tickets to drivers who have been pulled over for violating another law.

Nineteen states do not have primary enforcement seat belt laws, but as more states have been adopting primary enforcement crash-related injuries have declined, said Dr. Linda Degutis, director of CDC's Injury Center.