Nebraskans use their seat belts now more than ever before, according to the state Department of Transportation.
. Previously, the highest rate was in 2009 at 85 percent. From 2012-2014, it was stagnant at 79 percent.
Seat belt-usage rates are measured by Nebraska State Patrol officer observations. After officers collect the data, statisticians at the Department of Transportation extrapolate it and compare it to previous years and across counties.
Mark Segerstrom, road safety project coordinator for the Nebraska Safety Council, said the increase in seat belt usage is likely because of an increase in public awareness.
"We've been able to show the impact of wearing your seat belt," he said, mentioning the different programs the safety council uses in high schools and around the state.
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Segerstrom said that it is imperative to start educating kids at a young age.
"Although this is great progress, wearing a seat belt needs to become a habit for this success to become sustainable," he said.
Kids who observe parents put their seat belt on do the same at least 92 percent of the time, Segerstrom said, while kids whose parents don't use seat belts follow suit about 64 percent of the time.
"Parents need to lead by example," he said.
Nebraska still lags behind the national standard of 90 percent usage. Segerstrom says it's possibly because seat belt laws in the state are secondary, so an officer cannot stop someone simply for not wearing a seat belt.
States such as Kansas and Iowa, which have primary seat belt laws, have usage rates approaching 94 percent. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said states with those laws tend to see usage rates jump by about 9 percentage points.
Road fatalities in Nebraska dropped annually from 276 in 2000 to 218 in 2016, which may be , according to the Department of Transportation.
Of the 218 fatalities in Nebraska in 2016, 83 percent were occupants of passenger vehicles and 65 percent were not wearing a seat belt. Of those, 35 percent were thrown from the vehicle.