ABSTRACT
Traffic accidents in Spain are one of the main causes of death amongst young people (WHO, 2003). In 2003, 4130 young people aged between fifteen and seventeen years had traffic accidents, with eighty-six percent of these being male and fourteen percent female (Dirección General de Tráfico, 2004a). The most widespread type of protective equipment aimed at reducing the number (and severity) of injuries and deaths resulting from traffic accidents, is seat-belts. It is widely recognized that seat-belts save lives (DGT, 2003a; Huguenin, 1988; Letho and James, 1997). In the event of a crash, a correctly used seat-belt reduces the chance of death by fifty percent and has also been shown to reduce injuries in both high and low-speed crashes. For example, in 2003 there were 5399 traffic fatalities in Spain (4480 people killed on highways and 919 killed on urban roads). It has been estimated that almost 3000 of these people would not have died if they had been wearing a seat-belt.
