Multiple System Atrophy. NORD gratefully acknowledges Niall P. Quinn, MD, Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK, for assistance in the preparation of this report.
In New York, where seat belt use became mandatory January 1, 1985, seat belt use rates increased from 16% before the law to 57% 4 months after the law; fatalities decreased 19%, despite a modest increase in mileage driven (4).
Even then, seat belts were considered optional equipment. In 1955, famous actor James Dean died in a spectacular two-vehicle crash in the Southern California desert, which he likely would have survived had he been wearing a seat belt. History was made. The seat belt industry bloomed.