Seat Belt Usage by All Occupants by Province or Territory

• Chart 1 shows that an estimated 86.9% (± 0.7%) of all occupants of light duty vehicles use seat belts. Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan were at or above the national average Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Alberta, British Columbia, and two of the three territories were below the national average. No data was collected in Nunavut in 2004.

Seat Belt Usage by All Occupants by Light Duty Vehicle Type

• In the survey, 51.6% of vehicles were passenger cars, 22.1% were minivans and SUVs, and 26.3% were light trucks.
• Chart 2 shows much lower rates of seat belt usage among occupants of light trucks (79.9%) than of passenger cars (89.3%) and minivans and SUVs (89.5%). For drivers specifically, the rates were 90.1% for passenger cars, 89.8% for minivans and SUVs, and 80.7% for light trucks.

Seat Belt Usage by Gender of Driver and Vehicle Type

• Chart 3 shows a higher percentage of female drivers wearing seat belts (92.2%) than male drivers (85.8%).
• The higher rate of seat belt usage by females was consistent across all three vehicle types. The difference ranged from 4.9 percentage points for minivans and SUVs (92.9% for females vs. 88.0% for males) to 7.3 points for light trucks (87.1% for females vs. 79.8% for males).
• Other data from the survey show that the higher rate of seat belt usage by females is generally consistent across all provinces and territories, except in the Yukon where it is 64.9% for females and 65.9% for males. Other differences range from 5.1 percentage points in Nova Scotia (92.6% for females vs. 87.5% for males) to 26.7 points in Prince Edward Island (85.7% for females vs. 59.0% for males).

Seat Belt Usage by Age Group of Driver

• Chart 4 shows that the proportion of drivers wearing seat belts increases with age group, from 84.4% of those under 25, to 87.9% of those 25 to 49 and 89.7% of those 50 and older.
• Other data from the survey show that the increased rate of seat belt usage with age is generally consistent across the three vehicle types:
  • For drivers of passenger cars, those 50 and older had a usage rate of 92.1% (vs. 86.0% for those under 25 and 90.1% for those 25 to 49).
  • For drivers of minivans and SUVs, those 50 and older had a usage rate of 90.6% (vs. 86.0% for those under 25 and 89.8% for those 25 to 49).
  • For drivers of light trucks, those 50 and older had a usage rate of 83.2% (vs. 75.1% for those under 25 and 80.6% for those 25 to 49).

Comparison of the rural survey results for 2002 and 2004

• The 2002 rural seat belt survey gathered data only on front seat occupants while the 2004 survey gathered data on all occupants. As a result, the following comparison will be of front seat occupants only.
• The 2004 survey comprised communities spread out in 69 geographical regions, while the 2002 survey included 63 regions.
• Communities that have a population over 10,000 but are not classified as census agglomerations have been included in the 2004 survey.
• Some population strata have been combined.