Improvement of safety belts use in the Netherlands.

Recently the 4-year plan for traffic safety 1987-1991 ""more kilometres less accidents"" (ministry of transport and public works 1986) was adopted by the dutch parliament. In the plan new ways are indicated to call the attention of civilians and authorities to improve road safety. This appears from the introduction of an incentive program for local authorities, after the example of the ""-10%-program"" in france. The program fits in the policy of the coordinating minister for road safety to make local and provincial authorities pay more attention to road safety. Another main stream program is the choice of a limited number of favourable points of action. The improvement in the use of safety belts is considered one of the favourable points of action. After the introduction of the mandatory use of safety belts for front occupants in 1975 the safety belts theme has had some attention, if not very much, in politics. Renewed attention for the improvement of the use of safety belts has also been roused by developments outside the netherlands. Reports from the federal republic of germany and from the united kingdom informed us that rates of use of over 90% has been reached in those countries. The rates did not appear to decrease over the years. The dutch rates of 67% outside built-up areas and 50% inside built-up areas contrast sharply with these. In this paper the use of safety belts in the netherlands is described and the possibilities to stimulate their use are discussed. Research on the effect upon safety belt use of combined information and enforcement actions on a regional scale in the netherlands are reported.