Background

Background

This bulletin provides statistics on the proportion of vehicle occupants observed wearing seatbelts and drivers using mobile phones from a roadside observation survey commissioned jointly by Transport Scotland and the Department for Transport in 2017.

The 2017 seatbelt survey resulted in 7,169 vehicle occupants being observed in Scotland, whilst the mobile phone survey recorded the behaviour of 14,427 drivers.

Key findings

• 97.3% of all drivers were recorded using a seatbelt in 2017, an increase from the 96.4% observed in 2014
• the proportion of car drivers observed using their seatbelt correctly in 2017 was 98.6%, a marginal increase from the 97.8% recorded in 2014
• rear seat passenger seatbelt usage has decreased, dropping from 99% in
• 2014 to 95.1%. However, this is largely driven by the inclusion of rear seat passengers in 'other vehicles' (vans, lorries, buses, coaches, and mini-buses) which have lower seatbelt rates overall and were excluded in the 2014 survey
• the proportion of car drivers observed using a mobile phone whilst driving was at 1.8% at moving (free-flowing) sites, a marginal increase from the 2014 figure (1.3%). At stationary (traffic light controlled junction) sites, the
• proportion observed using a mobile phone was 2.4%, an increase from 2014 figure (1.6%)
• the mobile usage rate at moving sites by drivers of 'other vehicles' (vans, lorries, buses, coaches, and mini-buses) was notably higher (3%) compared to car drivers (1.8%)
• at-ear mobile phone use has increased from 0.2% at both types of site in 2014 to 0.9% at moving sites and 1.2% at stationary sites