I never had to wear a seatbelt in the back of the car when I was growing up, regularly used to travel in the boot. Now kids are in a cacoon.
It's easy to make fun of some of the safety obsession we see in society but the fact is that if you look at some dangerous toys list of years past, a lot of them we wouldn't have today for mostly pretty good reasons.
But seeing a pretty linear decline from 1921 to 2021 and looks like big annual drops in fatalities are more connected to economic conditions than safety features (i.e. only double digit % drops I'm seeing are 1932, 1938, 1942, 1943, 1974, 1982, and 2008).
So the drop in the late 1980s into the early '90s may've had more to do with the early '90s recession.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in...
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt_laws_in_the_United_S...
All the other safety features. As you say, maybe differences in miles driven because of recessions/fuel price spikes. DUI/DWI becoming less socially acceptable, at least in many segments of society. The overall evolution of attitudes towards risk.
I wouldn't expect the laws themselves to have a huge effect. They mostly trailed public opinion, enforcement was limited, and penalties small if someone really didn't want to wear a seat belt.
https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/10vc5jt/...
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3665046#...