4 things every driver should know about seat belts

Seat belts are the single most important piece of safety technology in your vehicle. Whether you’re driving, co-piloting or riding, buckling up reduces your risk of being fatally injured in a crash by nearly half. Here are four more facts about seat belts that are worth knowing.

1. Seat belts are mandatory
Every U.S. state except New Hampshire requires that all drivers and passengers buckle up. Thirty-one states, as well as the District of Columbia, have primary enforcement seat belt laws, which means you can be pulled over for not wearing a seat belt. Eighteen states have secondary enforcement seat belt laws, meaning an officer can fine you if you’re pulled over for another infraction.

2. Belts and bags work together
Your vehicle’s other safety features, in particular the air bags, are much more effective when you’re wearing your seat belt. If you aren’t buckled up, the force of a deploying air bag can seriously injure or even kill you.

3. Seat belts are worth wearing at all times
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you don’t need to wear a seat belt when driving at slow speeds. A frontal collision at 30 miles per hour, for example, means your body will hit the steering wheel and windshield at the same velocity at which a person hits the ground when falling from a three-story building.

4. Seat belts should be worn by pregnant women
Contrary to popular belief, a snug seat belt presents no risk to pregnant women. The fetus is protected by the mother’s bones and muscles, as well as by the amniotic sac. In the event of an accident, the seat belt distributes the force of the shock across the chest and pelvis, which are the strongest parts of the torso.

Wearing a seat belt saves the lives of more than 15,000 Americans every year, so don’t forget to buckle up!

Here’s the major requirements of Virginia’s Child Safety Seat Law:

• Child restraint devices are required for children through the age of seven (until 8th birthday). Safety seats must be properly used and approved by Department of Transportation standards. There is no height or weight requirement associated with this law. The Virginia law is based solely on age.
• Rear-facing child restraint devices must be placed in the back seat of a vehicle. In the event the vehicle does not have a back seat, the child restraint device may be placed in the front passenger seat only if the vehicle is either not equipped with a passenger side airbag or the passenger side airbag has been deactivated.
• Effective July 1, 2019: Children are to ride in a rear-facing safety seat until the age of two or the child reaches the minimum weight limit for a forward-facing safety seat as prescribed by the manufacturer of the safety seat.
• Children can no longer ride unrestrained in the rear cargo area of vehicles.
• The law applies to anyone (i.e. parents, grandparents, babysitters, friends) who provides transportation for a child in any vehicle manufactured after January 1, 1968. Public transportation (taxis, buses), regulation school buses, and farm vehicles are exempted.
• The child restraint law is primary enforcement — no other violation need be committed prior to ticketing for failure to have a child in an approved seat.
• A $50 civil penalty fine is imposed for failure to have a child in a child restraint device. Any person found guilty a second or subsequent time, on different dates, will be fined up to $500. An additional $20 civil penalty fine is assessed when persons transporting a child exempted from this law due to medical reasons do not carry a written statement of the exemption. All fines collected go into a special fund to purchase safety seats for low-income families.
• There are assistance programs for low-income residents who cannot afford a safety seat. Contact Virginia Department of Health, Division of Injury and Violence Prevention at 1-800-732-8333 for more information.