Objective The use of seatbelts reduces the likelihood of
death and severe injuries to crash-involved vehicle
occupants by 45e60%. Several countries, including
Nigeria, have laws mandating the use of seatbelts but
compliance is not universal. This study was conducted to
determine rates of use of seatbelts among vehicle
occupants in Ibadan municipality.
Design An observational study was conducted. A
selected petrol station in each of the five local
government areas in Ibadan municipality was used as an
observation site. Observations were documented by
trained research staff between 08:30 and 18:00 hours
over a 6-day period.
Results 5757 occupants in 2870 vehicles were
observed. Approximately 90% of drivers were men.
Driver seatbelts were installed in approximately 90% of
vehicles. Overall seatbelt use was 18.7; 31.7% among
drivers and 10.3% and 0.4% among front and rear-seated
adults, respectively. Only one child (0.7%) was
restrained. Significantly more female drivers 47.3% used
their seatbelts compared with men, 30.3% (p<0.001).
An adult passenger was more likely to be restrained
when riding with a female driver (p¼0.007) and when
the driver was restrained (p¼0.000).
Conclusions The study showed that seatbelt use
among vehicle occupants was low. Further research into
reasons for the non-use of restraints needs to be
conducted so that these can be incorporated in