Study: Many police officers nix seat belts

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- A federal review indicates at least 42 percent of U.S. police officers killed in vehicle crashes during the past 30 years weren't wearing safety restraints.

The findings by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration involved an analysis of 733 police vehicle crashes from 1980 through 2008, USA Today reported Tuesday.

Seat belt and restraint usage was up to 56 percent in the 1990s but since then has declined to about 50 percent, the NHTSA said.

Craig Floyd of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund said some officers resist wearing seat belts because they slow down getting in and out of their squad cars.

Others complain that the straps get tangled in utility and gun belts, Floyd said.

The NHTSA report comes less than a week after a separate report found that fatal traffic accidents in 2010 were the leading cause of officer deaths for the 13th straight year.