Women as motivators in the use of safety belts

A sample of rural and urban women was interviewed using a questionnaire based on Fishbein's and Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action. Two hundred women were asked about their intentions to use safety-belts and to encourage others to use safety-belts. Both intent and nonintent women highly valued saving lives, feeling safer, and reducing the likelihood of injuries, but they differed markedly in their beliefs that using safety-belts would necessarily save life, enhance their feeling of safety, and reduce the likelihood of injuries. Intent and nonintent users differed least in their beliefs that safety-belts would reduce injuries. Women who intended to use their safety-belts felt their action would encourage others to use belts and believed that they should encourage others to use their safety-belts. These intent safety-belt users did not see a strong social support for encouraging others to use safety belts and therefore were unlikely to do so. Programs to promote safety-belt use would capture the generally supportive attitudes of women if they could assist women to develop skills and confidence to express effectively their existing predisposition for safety-belt use.