Georgia seat belt requirements in a nutshell
Georgia’s seat belt law, enacted in 2010, requires that front seat occupants of motor vehicles "be properly restrained by a safety seat belt or safety harness approved by the commissioner." O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76(b). The law further provides that the owner or operator of a passenger vehicle must not permit another person to exceed the number of seat belt restraints for that vehicle. Id. § 40-8-76(c). A violation of these requirements is traffic violation and subject to a maximum fine of $15. Id. § 40-8-76(d)-(e). To the extent that rear seat occupants must be restrained, there is no statewide rule because the Georgia State Patrol does not enforce safety belt violations for those seats, however, local jurisdictions may have such ordinances. Id. § 40-8-76.1(b). Violations of a locality’s rear seat seatbelt ordinance are also subject to up to a $15 fine .
Crashes involving motor vehicles equipped with lap and shoulder belts specifically designed for children aged 4 years and older and less than 12 years old that do not meet the above requirements also give rise to a rebuttable presumption that the defect in the product was not the proximate cause of the allegedly injured person’s injury. Id. § 40-8-76.1(c). Hence, the seat belts used in such vehicles must be appropriate for their intended use and include instructions, if necessary, on how the occupant was to wear the safety seat belt or safety harness.
The operator of a passenger vehicle transporting a child who is less than 18 years old is specifically required to restrain the child properly by using a seat belt or safety harness that complies with the standards and specifications for safety restraints established under federal law. Id. § 40-8-76(b-1). In addition, an operator or passenger of a passenger vehicle cannot operate the vehicle "unless he or she is properly restrained by a safety seat belt or safety harness approved by the commissioner." Id. § 40-8-76(b-2).
Who is required to wear a seatbelt in Georgia?
Georgia’s seat belt law is straightforward; however, determining who must wear one can be confusing. Georgia law § 40-8-76 goes into great detail regarding who must wear a seat belt based on the type of vehicle being driven.
Drivers
First, it specifically designates the driver of the vehicle as a person who must wear a seatbelt.
Front Seat Passengers Over 8
Second, it requires these same restraints for all passengers in the front seat of the vehicle who are over the age of 8 years old. Overall, any passenger over the age of 8 must wear a seat belt when they are in the car.
Back Seat Passengers 6 Years and Under
Third, § 40-8-76 requires that all children who are 6 years and under be restrained with a safety device such as a seat belt or child safety seat. Again, there are exemptions to this rule.
Exemptions
The law states that "no person shall be convicted of violating this Code section if:
- (1) The restraining device is not available in the vehicle;
- (2) The use of such restraining device would not be possible due to the physical size of the passenger; or
- (3) The restraint system is medically contraindicated because of the passenger’s physical size or medical condition."
Special Needs Considerations
Notably, if the physician who treated the child immediately after the accident finds that seat belt use would have constituted "an unreasonable risk of harm," or if the seat belt is "incompatible with the child’s medical condition," there may be another exemption from the statute (although the exhaustion of the law’s purposes is probably the best defense).
Exemptions to the Georgia seat belt law
While the vast majority of drivers in Georgia are required to wear a seat belt while driving to avoid receiving a fine, there are some exceptions to the law that may free you from paying fines and potentially from being found partially to blame for a crash. Exceptions to Georgia’s seat belt law include:
- School buses that are designed to carry more than 15 passengers;
- Passenger buses, transit buses, trolleys and lirynx, whether they are publicly or privately owned. Trolleys and lirynx are defined as a motor vehicle that is propelled by electric power and typically wears metallic wheels and runs on tracks;
- Taxis, vans, vans to transport disabled persons, tractors and trucks, including pickup trucks, truck tractors, truck/trailer combinations, truck tractors whether or not attached to trailers and truck trailers;
- Pickup trucks that have an empty cargo area of at least six feet in length (or not less than 20 square feet in volume), unless any person under 18 years of age are riding in that vehicle;
- Pickup trucks with an empty cargo area of at least six feet in length (or not less than 20 feet in volume) if an unrestrained occupant is present in the vehicle and is 18 years of age or older;
- An occupant of a pickup truck with an empty cargo area of at least six feet in length who was properly wearing a seat belt or seat safety system at the time of the crash may not bring a claim for damages against another party for injuries or damages sustained in the crash;
- Persons who are medically unable to wear a seat belt or a seat safety system and have written documentation of the medical condition from their physician. If you require a seat belt extension and have not yet received your doctor prescription or if you have applied and are currently waiting for approval of your medical conditions, you may wish to carry a copy of either the prescription or the request letter;
- Persons riding in a passenger vehicle manufactured prior to 1964; and
- A person who is a driver of an authorized emergency vehicle while responding to an emergency and has in good faith attempted to use such vehicle’s audible and visual signals.
The exemptions for Georgia’s seat belt law are as follows:
- A person employed as, or driving, an authorized emergency vehicle in the performance of duty;
- An occupant of a public or private van, bus or trolley bus;
- An occupant of a motorcycle;
- A person who has a medical certificate that states a seat belt would result in a physical difficulty for the individual;
- A member of the U.S. military who is stationed in a foreign country and unable to wear a seat belt due to the nature of the transport;
- An occupant of a standard cargo van or pickup truck with only one occupant;
- An occupant of a cargo van or pickup truck who is properly restrained;
- A pickup truck with an empty cargo area.
Many Georgia residents are surprised to learn that Georgia’s seat belt law is not a primary enforcement seat belt law. This means that police officers in Georgia are not allowed to stop a driver for failure to wear a seat belt alone. Many people who are pulled over for a variety of reasons and ended up being ticketed or fined for failing to wear a seat belt.
Penalties for violating a Georgia’s seat belt law
Violating Georgia’s Belt Law Can Lead to Financial Penalties
The amount of the seat belt fine depends on the driver’s age and whether or not all passengers in the vehicle are wearing theirs. In 2009, the Council of Safety Motors Vehicles estimated that the chances of being killed in a crash while wearing a seat belt was reduced by over 45 percent.
Georgia imposes the following fines and penalties for non-use of a seat belt:
• Adults in the front seat – $15 each for the first offense and $25 each for the second offense.
• Seat belts for children ages 6-17 – $25 each for the first and subsequent offenses.
• All drivers age 16 or younger – $25 each.
• Children ages 1-5 in special child safety seats – $25 each.
The fines are doubled for violations in a construction zone. Georgia law states that the first and subsequent violations are considered as going into effect on July 1, 2011.
The Georgia law requires law enforcement to document on traffic accident reports when someone is injured because they were not wearing their seat belt. This information could be used against the defendant in a civil court case.
The advantages of following the Georgia seat belt law
The most obvious benefit of complying with the seat belt law is that wearing a seat belt, regardless of the state law, is one of the most effective ways to keep you and your passengers safe should your car become involved in a car crash. A seat belt keeps you in position, minimizing the risk that you will be ejected from the vehicle. If you are not thrown from the vehicle during a crash, you will be less likely to suffer serious head , neck and spinal cord injuries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirms that buckling up saves lives. In fact, the NHSTA reports that for each percentage point increase in seat belt use, an estimated 270 lives are saved annually. Between 1975 and 2013, seat belts saved the lives of more than 324,000 occupants of passenger vehicles. The NHSTA fights to avoid these unnecessary injuries and deaths by encouraging all drivers and passengers to buckle up on every trip, day and night.
How the law is enforced in Georgia
Georgia’s law enforcement agencies are on the front lines of seat belt law enforcement in the state. Individual agencies are charged with carrying out the requirements of the seat belt statute. These are general state laws that apply to all Georgians, however, there are a few localities that either have pre-existing statutes that provide for greater penalties or more expansive requirements, or local agencies that have campaigns of their own. What you will see when visiting these areas varies widely, but in general, you may find checkpoints that stop the traffic and inspect every car that passes through.
Many drivers can expect to encounter seat belt checkpoints at certain times of the year, led by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) in Metro Atlanta, North Georgia, Savannah, and areas south of the metro area. The GOHS issues press releases well ahead of time, letting people know where checkpoints will be held.
Enforcement of the seat belt requirement is generally left to individual discretion of law enforcement officers responding to accidents or on-watch in their communities, unless the agencies themselves determine that a blitz-type enforcement operation across the board is appropriate. For example, during the holiday season, some agencies will warn drivers that those who do not buckle up will be stopped and ticketed. Some obvious enforcement locations for seat belt laws are schools and churches, where parents driving their children to school or to church events are presumed to be unbuckled, whereas leaving a community event without a ticket could require a longer trip. The latter is the most common scenario, especially if you know the right time to head home.
Recent changes and updates to the law
Georgia’s seat belt law has undergone periodic amendments over the years, with officials seeking to address new concerns and enhance safety on the state’s roadways. Among the most significant changes involved the addition of booster seat requirements in 2000, which mandated that children ages 4 to 8 use a booster seat when being driven in a passenger vehicle.
A 2010 update allowed exemptions for certain circumstances, including if an adult was also present in the rear compartment. The amendment aimed to ease the challenges of enforcing seat belt use while accounting for exemptions in situations such as larger families or temporary guardianship arrangements.
More recently, the Governor signed an updated version of the law into effect in June 2020. This latest update requires that all front-seat and rear-seat occupants over the age of 18 buckle up, legally eliminating the previous exemptions for people in the back seat . The 2020 amendment also expands the scope of the law to cover motor-driven bicycles, defined as two-wheeled vehicles that are powered by a motor, while also extending the law to private passenger vehicles, six- to 15-passenger vans and light trucks over 10,000 pounds.
Most experts agree the extended law will ultimately reduce injuries and fatalities related to motor vehicle accidents, but some have also expressed concern it could have unintended consequences for certain groups. For example, there is speculation, especially among law enforcement, that the inclusion of motor-driven bicycles in the law was meant to target people in the ride-share industry like Uber or Lyft drivers, even if it will have limited effects. It’s also possible that the expansion of the law was aimed at addressing fatal accidents in rural Georgia involving large trucks.
By broadening the scope of Georgia’s seat belt law, lawmakers are attempting to increase the number of people who use them, thereby enhancing safety throughout the state and cutting down on the number of serious accident-related injuries.