Child restraint, belt laws
as of July 2005

This information is from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.  See the original article on their website, at http://www.iihs.org/laws/state_laws/restrain.html.

Forty-nine states (all except New Hampshire) and the District of Columbia have mandatory safety belt laws. In most states, these laws cover front-seat occupants only, although belt laws in 18 jurisdictions (Alaska, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming) cover all rear seat occupants, too. People in passenger cars, pickups, SUVs, and vans are required to comply with belt laws in most jurisdictions, but in a few jurisdictions occupants of some kinds of vehicles (usually pickups) are exempt.

Belt use laws in only 22 states and the District of Columbia (Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington) are standard, or primary, meaning police may stop vehicles solely for belt law violations. Police authority to enforce belt laws in other jurisdictions is limited. Officers must have some other reason to stop a vehicle before citing an occupant for failing to buckle up.

In 14 states (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, West Virginia, and Wisconsin), the safety belt defense is allowed. Damages collected by someone in a crash may be reduced for failure to use a belt. The reduction is permitted only for injuries caused by nonuse of belts, and, in some states, the reduction may not exceed a fixed percentage of the damages.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have child restraint laws. Child restraint laws require children to travel in approved child restraint devices, and some permit or require older children to use adult safety belts. The age at which belts can be used instead of child restraints differs among the states. Young children usually are covered by child restraint laws, while safety belt laws cover older children and adults. Because enforcement and fines differ under belt use and child restraint laws, it's important to know which law is being violated when a child isn't restrained. Child restraint laws are standard for all children covered except Colorado, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. In Colorado, the law is secondary only for children ages 4 through 5 years who must be in booster seats. Nebraska's law is secondary only for those children who may be in safety belts and standard for those who must be in a child restraint device. In Pennsylvania, the law is secondary only for children ages 4 through 7 years who must be in booster seats.

Ideally, all infants and children in all vehicles should be covered by safety belt laws or child restraint laws or both. But differences in the way the laws in various states are worded result in many occupants, especially children, being covered by neither law. Lawmakers are eliminating these gaps by amending their child restraint and safety belt laws. They also should make certain that police can stop drivers to enforce restraint laws covering older children. In 36 states and the District of Columbia (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming), all children younger than 16 are covered by one or both laws.