Traffic Safety Facts and Tips

Information In This Section

Florida traffic crash data indicate that 20 counties account for 82 percent of the state's population, 86 percent of the state's traffic crashes, and 75 percent of the fatal crashes state-wide. Because of the wide variation in demographics and traffic conditions in these counties, it can be difficult to develop state-wide countermeasure programs that address the unique characteristics of local traffic safety problems.

Institutional barriers and funding constraints have seriously limited the ability of local governments to address these growing problems adequately. It has become increasingly apparent that public works and other city, county and state agencies must work in close coordination to contain costs and increase the efficiency of all highway safety program efforts.

Florida's Community Traffic Safety Teams

(CTSTs) are locally based groups of highway safety advocates who are committed to solving traffic safety problems through a comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional, multi-disciplinary approach.

Members include local city, county, state and occasionally federal agencies, as well as private industry representatives and local citizens. The community boundaries are up to the individuals comprising the team, and can be a city, an entire county, a portion of a county, multiple counties, or any other jurisdictional arrangement.

Multi-jurisdictional means several agencies (cities, county and state) plus other groups and organizations working together toward a common goal of improving traffic safety in their community. Multi-disciplinary means integrating the efforts of the 4 "E" disciplines that work in highway safety, including Engineering, Enforcement, Education / public information, and Emergency services. By working together with interested citizens and other traffic safety advocates within their communities, the CTSTs help to solve local traffic safety problems related to the driver, the vehicle and the roadway.

One common goal of each Community Traffic Safety Team is to reduce the number and severity of traffic crashes within their community.

The Florida Department of Transportation

(FDOT) has been active in the support of Community Traffic Safety Teams. Each FDOT District has a CTST Coordinator who works closely with the Teams in their geographic area, and the Central FDOT Safety Office acts as a liaison to the District Coordinators. For a list of the Community Traffic Safety Teams in the State, including their routine meeting times and contact information, click on the appropriate FDOT district.

In Florida, the CTSTs are closely tied to Florida's Safety Management System (SMS) as a mechanism to address highway safety on all public roadways. Federal requirements for Safety Management Systems included a component where states should "coordinate and integrate broad-based safety programs (such as motor carrier, corridor, and community based traffic safety activities) into a comprehensive management approach for highway safety", and were required to extend coverage to all public roads.

Due to the common goals, objectives and interests of the statewide Community Traffic Safety Teams, the teams decided to form their own unique Coalition. The CTST Coalition holds quarterly meetings to share successes, safety materials and programs and to facilitate technology transfer among the CTSTs. As a tie to the Florida Safety Management System, the CTST Coalition Chairman is also an SMS Steering Committee Representative.

Safety Belt Use Fact Sheet

* Source: "1999 Observational Survey of Safety Belt

and Child Restraint Use in Florida"

* In 1998 there were 2,889 traffic fatalities and more than 241,000 injuries in motor vehicle crashes on Florida highways. Over 59 percent of drivers who were fatally injured were not using available restraint systems.

* Estimates show that if Florida had a primary enforcement safety belt law, 200 lives would be saved and 6,134 injuries prevented the first year. This represents $385.1 million in potential savings to taxpayers.

* According to a 1999 Florida survey*, use of child safety restraint systems ranged from a low of 45.3 percent in Marion County, to a high of 83.7 percent in Volusia County.

* Traffic-related injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults ages six to 27. Research also shows that minority youth are at an even greater risk because they are less likely to be buckled up.

* In Florida, the highest safety belt usage was observed in women and men over 60 years of age, and the lowest use rates were found in men driving light trucks, vans and cars.*

* Businesses pay the price at a cost of $22,000 per on-the-job crash, and $110,000 per injury due to lost productivity and higher insurance and medical costs.

* The "top ten" Florida counties with the highest number of motor vehicle fatalities are Dade, Broward, Hillsborough, Orange, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Polk, Duval, Volusia and

Traffic Safety Facts and Tips

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Florida's safety belt law?

Florida law is very specific about how passengers in Florida should be belted. All front seat occupants must be buckled up, regardless of age. Children ages 6-15 must be belted in either the front or back seat of the vehicle. The driver is responsible for passengers under 16 years who are not buckled up. Passengers 16 years of age or older may be individually fined if they are not buckled up.

What is Florida's child safety belt law?

All children under six years must be properly restrained while riding in any car, pickup truck, or van on Florida's roads, no matter where they are sitting in the vehicle. Children through age three must be secured in a separate carrier or a vehicle manufacturer's integrated child safety seat. For children aged four through five years, a separate carrier, or integrated child safety seat, or a safety belt may be used.

What is the fine for not obeying Florida's safety belt and child safety belt laws?

The cost to a violator for not wearing a safety belt in Florida is $30 plus any other legal assessments up to an additional $30. The cost to a violator for not following child safety belt laws is $60, plus any other legal assessments up to an additional $30, and three points.

Why should Florida citizens care if drivers and passengers refuse to buckle up?

The fact is that all Floridians pay the price for those who do not wear safety belts, through higher health care and insurance costs. The costs of hospital care for an unbuckled driver are 50 percent higher than those for a driver wearing a safety belt. Florida citizens - not the individual - bear 85 percent of those costs. And these costs are further increased in Florida with the added drivers on Florida roads due to tourism.

Businesses are paying the price as well. On-the-job crashes cost employers $22,000 per crash and $110,000 per injury due to lost productivity and higher insurance and medical costs.

Shouldn't it be a person's choice to wear a seat belt?

Research shows that when a driver is unbuckled, 70 percent of the time children in that vehicle will not be buckled either. A child unrestrained in a 30-mile-per-hour crash is equivalent to a child falling from a three-story building. Personal choice is forfeited when others are injured and killed.

Don't law enforcement officers have more important priorities than ticketing Florida drivers for not wearing their seat belt?

Besides saving lives, reducing injury and death, and saving taxpayers money, safety belt enforcement often leads to the apprehension of felons. Florida's statewide enforcement wave in May 1999, resulted in the apprehension of 263 fugitives, 376 other felony arrests, and 982 DUI arrests.

Do we really need to make wearing a seat belt a primary (standard) offense in Florida? Isn't a secondary law sufficient to enforce seat belt safety?

Even with Florida's current secondary safety belt law, safety belt usage is only at 59 percent - well below the national average of 63 percent for secondary-law states. Experience shows that upgrading to a primary safety belt law can result in up to a 15 percent increase in safety belt usage statewide.

Would tougher seat belt laws and enforcement efforts really make a significant difference to the citizens of Florida?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that if Florida had a primary enforcement safety belt law, 200 lives would be saved and 6,134 injuries prevented the first year. This represents $385.1 million in potential savings to taxpayers.