The number of people using seat belts while traveling Massachusetts’ roadways has never been higher, according to state officials who announced the results of a study earlier this week.
Seat belt use among the motorists and passengers in the state ticked higher for the third straight year. Now, about 85.5% of people wear seat belts on the commonwealth’s highways and byways, according to the survey conducted by the University of Massachusetts Transportation Center.
The state, however, continues to lag in seat belt use compared to the rest of the nation, where in 2024, people in passenger vehicles used the safety device at a rate of 91.2%, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“Whether you’re a driver or passenger, one of the most important things you can do to protect your safety is to buckle your seat belt,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said in a statement announcing the results. “This study shows that we’ve made progress in increasing the safety of road users.”
Seat belt use had dipped in the years following the pandemic. In 2022, researchers observed seat belt use at a rate of 77% in the state.
The region with the highest increase in seat belt use was Essex County, which saw a 3.17 percentage point increase.
Researchers saw an 11 percentage point increase in seat belt use among people traveling in Massachusetts in vehicles with New Hampshire license plates, according to the survey. New Hampshire lacks laws mandating the use of seat belts, the only state in the nation as such.
This year, motorists and passengers in Western Massachusetts increased the use of seat belts by 2.22 percentage points between 2025 and the year before, with 86.86% buckling up, according to this year’s survey.
To measure seat belt use across the state, researchers with the Massachusetts Traffic Safety Research Program at the University of Massachusetts monitored almost 150 sites in June, taking note of more than 23,000 vehicles. It’s an annual study performed at the behest of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Among this year’s findings: Hispanic motorists and passengers are buckling up in significantly greater numbers, with 77.09% using seat belts, an increase of 6.17 percentage points.
Seat belt use, meanwhile, slipped by 0.57 percentage points among female travelers. In this year’s survey, 90.12% used seat belts.
Seat belt use, similarly, declined by 1.16 percentage points among older adults about 65 and older for a rate of 84.93%.
Massachusetts’ sitting below the national rate for seat belt use might have to do with its laws, according to Insurance Institute for Highway Safety spokesperson Joe Young. Police in the state cannot pull over motorists solely because they were not wearing a seat belt.
NHTSA research suggests states that where law enforcement can pull over motorists for not wearing a seat belt — through what’s called primary belt laws — have more widespread use.
“While it’s encouraging to see that seat belt use seems to be moving in the right direction in Massachusetts, it’s clear that more work needs to be done in the absence of a primary belt law,” Young wrote. “High-visibility enforcement and education campaigns could help boost belt use, for example.”
The state has taken several approaches to increasing traffic safety last year, according to the state Office of Grants and Research, which is part of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.
During fiscal 2025, which ran between July 2024 and June 2025, troopers with the Massachusetts State Police conducted more than 8,300 hours of “high-visibility enforcement,” funded by the Office of Grants and Research, which also provides similar grants to local police departments.
Money from the office also helped the distribution and installation of about 3,400 child car seats for low-income families. In the weeks before researchers began measuring seat belt use, the state launched a messaging campaign intended to convince males and the drivers of pickup trucks (demographics in which seat belts tends to be used in lower rates) to buckle up.
The messaging worked, according to the state. This year, 81.94% of males were seen wearing a seat belt, a 2.84 percentage point increase from last year, according to the survey results.
For those observed traveling in pickup trucks, 72.64% used their seat belts, according to the survey, an increase of 1.69 percentage points compared to the year before.
