Robert Seufert, of the Miami University Applied Research Center Middletown, also found seatbelt usage by those in pickups went down from what it had been a year earlier by 3 percent.

Eighty-three percent of drivers and front-seat passengers of cars, 86 percent of those in minivans and 83 percent of those in sport utility vehicles were observed wearing seat belts, while people in pickup trucks were seen wearing their seat belts 71 percent of the time.

Overall, 81.6 percent of front seat passengers wore seat belts -- down one-tenth of 1 percent from 2006.

The study commissioned by the Ohio Department of Public Safety used 265 randomly selected observation points in 53 Ohio counties to observe seat belt usage of 22,873 front-seat vehicle occupants.

The researchers also found seat belts were worn by 78 percent of males and 86 percent of females, 74 percent of African-Americans and 82 percent of Caucasians, 76 percent of the time by those ages 15 to 25 and 88 percent for those 65 and older.