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Emory University to study seat belt use, distracted driving across Georgia

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Published  March 25, 2025 7:39am EDT
Georgia
FOX 5 Atlanta

(Pixabay)

The Brief

    • Researchers from Emory University will soon be heading to Georgia intersections to see how safe the Peach State's drivers are.
    • These observers will stay at busy intersections and note who is wearing a seat belt in the front seat and whether the driver is distracted.
    • The 2024 data revealed that seat belt use was highest in SUV and the lowest in trucks.

ATLANTA - Emory University researchers are taking a look at how safe Georgia's roads are.

The Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) is giving the Injury Prevention Research Center at Emory (IPRCE) more than $300,000 to measure the rates of seat belt use and track distracted drivers.

It's the fourth year that the research project has taken place.

What we know:

Between May and August, trained roadside observers will go to 400 sites in 20 counties throughout Georgia to collect data.

The counties involved include Cobb, DeKalb, Floyd, Gwinnett, Habersham, Haralson, Monroe, Rockdale, Spalding, and more.

These observers will stay at busy intersections and note who is wearing a seat belt in the front seat and whether the driver is distracted.

This information will then be shared with the GOHS and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to determine what programs or policies can be implemented to cut down the potentially hazardous driving practices.

By the numbers:

According to the 2024 findings.

  • Seat belt use was higher for right-front passengers (92.3%) than drivers (88.7%)
  • Seat belt use was highest in SUVs (92.3%) and lowest in trucks (82.8%)
  • Seat belt use was higher for women (90.6%) than for men (87.3%)
  • Seat belt use was highest among those 8 to 15 years of age (92.6%), followed by those over 70 years (91.8%), those 25 to 69 years (89.0%), and those 16 to 24 years (82.4%)

What they're saying:

"Our past observations found that seat belt use for drivers and right front passengers in Georgia during daylight hours increased slightly from 87.6% in 2023 to 88.8% in 2024," says Jonathan Rupp, PhD, director of IPRCE and vice chair of Innovation and Discovery, Emergency Medicine at Emory. "Over the same time period, rates of hand-held cell phone use by Georgia drivers were relatively unchanged (6.8% in 2023 vs. 6.6% in 2024). We hope this data will help the state target efforts to increase seat belt usage and decrease distraction." 

The Source: Information for this story came from a news release from Emory University.

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