Study: In Mass., 1 In 5 Motorists Are Not Fastening Their Seat Belts

Click it, or ... Massachusetts (a state not exactly known for its great drivers) will keep lagging behind others when it comes to snapping in our seat belts.

New research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that nearly one in five Massachusetts motorists still don't buckle up before taking off. The study says the national average for fastening seat belts is 88.5 percent — about 10 percentage points above the Bay State's.

The upside is that seat belt usage in Massachusetts is at an all-time high, up 4 percentage points from last year.

In 1985, a mandatory seat belt law was enacted in the state. Known as a secondary law, Massachusetts is one of 15 states where drivers must be pulled over for a separate infraction in order to receive a ticket for not wearing a seat belt, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. Thirty-four other states have primary laws, allowing police to pull over and fine drivers for not wearing a safety belt without another infraction. New Hampshire has no primary or secondary seat belt laws.

The UMass study — created by the school's Traffic Safety Research Program for the state's highway safety division — was based on observations of drivers and front-seat passengers in 27,000 vehicles at 147 locations.

A separate, online survey of 500 residents recently conducted for the state by Strategic Opinion Research, Inc., found the most common reason given by drivers for not always wearing safety belts was that they were only driving a short distance.

With reporting from The Associated Press and the WBUR Newsroom