Seatbelt Non-Usage Among Young Fatal Crash Victims Raises Safety Concerns
Analysis reveals over a third of young car occupants killed in recent years were not wearing seatbelts, a rate significantly higher than the overall average.
More than one in three young people killed in car crashes between 2021 and 2025 were not wearing seatbelts, according to new analysis by the AA Charitable Trust for Road Safety and Environment. This proportion, 35.6%, is approximately 45% higher than the rate for all age groups.
Young male drivers, aged 17 to 24, face a particularly high risk, being about four times as likely to be killed or seriously injured compared to older drivers, according to recent government data. The analysis also highlights that unbelted drivers on short trips (under one mile) are more than twice as likely to be killed or seriously injured compared to those on longer journeys (100+ miles).
Distinct patterns emerge in serious collisions involving young drivers. Nearly half of those killed or seriously injured in such incidents occurred on rural roads. While casualties peak on weekdays between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., the proportion of car collisions is highest during the late evening and early morning.
However, for all unbelted car occupants, a greater percentage of fatalities occurred on urban roads (37.2%) than on motorways (23.7%) or rural roads (21.3%). Unbelted occupant deaths were more than twice as likely to occur in the evening or at night (39.4%) compared to during the day (17.1%).
Edmund King OBE, director of The AA Charitable Trust for Road Safety, described the figures as "shocking." He emphasized that wearing a seatbelt takes only seconds and is the most effective safety measure, yet "too many young drivers and passengers are still taking unnecessary and fatal risks." He added that not wearing a seatbelt further increases the already high odds for young male drivers.
Seatbelt use became mandatory in the front seats of cars in the UK on January 31, 1983. By 2012, the safety device, originally invented by Volvo, had contributed to a 60% reduction in fatalities on British roads. The requirement for all vehicle occupants to wear seatbelts was enacted in 1991. Volvo introduced the three-point seatbelt as standard in its Amazon and PV 544 models in Sweden in 1959, following earlier uses of lap and two-point belts in the 1930s.