The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration uses observational surveys of driver and occupant behavior to encourage vehicle occupants to wear safety belts, use child restraints, wear motorcycle helmets, and eliminate distracted driving.  This agency promotes safe driving and sponsors special law enforcement programs, demonstration projects, and public outreach campaigns to support their mission of saving lives and preventing injuries on our nation’s roadways.  Observational surveys help measure the success of these programs.

Westat conducts 2 surveys on behalf of the agencies:

• The National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) is conducted every year at about 2,000 sites and collects data on seat belt use, helmet use among motorcycle riders, child safety seat use, texting and hand-held phone use, and demographic characteristics.
• The National Survey of the Use of Booster Seats (NSUBS) focuses on appropriate child seat use.

Westat trains up to 150 field data collectors and uses Android-based tablets to collect data. We incorporate GPS technology to provide driving directions to data collection sites and continuous monitoring of field staff locations. Our geographic information systems (GIS) staff perform complex scheduling and mapping procedures to support the field effort. Data are transmitted each night and reviewed promptly to ensure accuracy and completeness.

The results of the surveys are used to produce estimates of restraint use, helmet use, and driver use of cell phones for the Nation as a whole, for each region of the country, for groups of states with different types of seat belt laws, and by demographic groups.

These data are used to identify safety issues, and develop and evaluate the effectiveness of programs to encourage safer driving.

Latest findings released in NHTSA’s Traffic Safety Facts::

• Motorcycle Helmet Use in 2021—Overall Results
• Seat Belt Use in 2021—Overall Results