Compulsory Seat Belts: Public Reaction and Usage Survey in Sydney, 1970 and 1973

NSW Government conducted a survey of 1251 people in Sydney in March 1973, 18 months after seat belt use became mandatory. The survey was a follow-up to a comparable 1970 survey, designed to measure the law's impact on wearing habits and attitudes. Reported wearing rates increased from 1 in 4 people always wearing in 1970 to 3 in 4 in 1973.

Use Cases

• Analyzing changes in self-reported seat belt usage rates before and after a law based on the survey results.
• Studying public acceptance of safety legislation based on the reported attitudes and favorability.
• Investigating demographic subgroup compliance with the law as mentioned in the description.
• Evaluating the relationship between enforcement activity and behavioral change as discussed in the survey results.

Strengths

• Survey includes a substantial sample size of 1251 respondents.
• Provides a direct before-and-after comparison with a comparable 1970 survey.
• Reports specific quantitative results, such as the increase from 1 in 4 to 3 in 4 people always wearing seat belts.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic and temporal bias inherent to a single-city survey from the 1970s.

Provenance

Source

NSW Government

Collection Method

Survey interviews conducted in Sydney.

Time Range

March 1970 and March 1973

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-26 11:51:18.020923; freshness should be verified

Geography

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia