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Why Seat Belts Are Required

A properly restrained occupant of a 36 mph car crash absorbs kinetic energy equivalent to the impact of a fall from a three-story building. A lap/shoulder belt limits the forces on the occupant. The effectiveness of an air bag system drops 83 percent when a seat belt is not used.

Nationally, traffic crashes kill about five people every four hours, and in Missouri, one person every nine hours. Seat belts would have saved the lives of those that were part of the half of car passengers killed each year. A driver’s chance of being killed in a traffic crash while not wearing a seat belt is 42 times greater than that of an aircraft passenger.

Use Your Seat Belt Properly

• A seat belt can only protect you if it’s used and used properly.
• Provide enough seat belts for each person traveling in your vehicle. Don’t carry more passengers than seat belts. Make sure all seat belts are working properly.
• Adjust your seat belt to fit snugly over your hip bones. It should cross your lap low on the hips, not high across your abdomen.
• Wear your seat belt as low on the hips as possible, so the belt presses against the pelvic bone.
• Never place the shoulder belt behind your back or under your arm.
• When you are pregnant, wear your seat belt underneath your stomach. The lap belt is the best way to protect the fetus as it provides the most protection.

Seat Belt Laws

• Everyone riding in the front seat of an automobile and trucks with a licensed gross weight of less than 8,000 pounds must wear a seat belt.
• Children ages four through 15 must wear seat belts when sitting in the back seat of a vehicle, regardless of where they are seated (front or back). This is a primary law, meaning you can be stopped solely for this violation.
• Persons less than 16 years of age operating or riding in trucks (regardless of gross weight for which licensed) must wear seat belts.
• Missouri’s seat belt/child restraint law applies on all roads and state-maintained highways, and within city limits. There are exemptions for agricultural purposes, special events, and parade situations.

What Are the Exceptions?

• Physical or medical conditions preventing use of a seat belt
• Occupants of manufactured vehicles for which the U.S. DOT has not required seat belts
• Postal carriers delivering mail from a vehicle
• Vehicles engaged in agricultural, work-related use on their land
• Parades and special events

The law does not apply to public carriers for hire or to students who are being transported on a school bus.

Who Is Responsible?

It is the driver’s responsibility to ensure passengers under the age of 16 are buckled up safely. Those 16 and over are responsible for themselves. Violators may be subject to a fine and court costs for not properly using seat belts.

Who Is Held Responsible?

It is the driver’s responsibility to ensure the safety of children in the vehicle. There is a fine and court cost for those who do not comply.

• A violation of the child passenger restraint/booster provisions is an infraction and the fine is $50 plus court costs. The fine for violating the safety belt provision of the law is $10.
• A citation for violating the child passenger restraint and booster seat provisions that results in a conviction also requires that the offending person provide evidence that he or she acquired a child passenger restraint system or booster seat prior to or at his or her hearing.
• Failure to comply may also result in criminal charges if injury is sustained by the child or the manner in which the vehicle is being driven shows disregard for the child’s safety.

Graduated Driver’s License Permit and Intermediate License Holder

Seat belts must be worn by the driver and all passengers when the driver is operating the vehicle under a driving permit or intermediate license.

Noncompliance with the seat belt law by a permit or intermediate driver is a violation of the graduated driver’s license restrictions and could result in fines, court costs, and license suspension.

Child Safety Seats

• The safest possible place for a child to ride is in the area of the back seat that has a three-point restraint system.
• A child safety seat holds your child in a crash and is designed to spread crash forces over a large area of the body.

Child Restraints

Who Must Be Secured in a Child Safety Seat?

1. Less than 4 years old: Missouri law requires children in this age group be properly restrained regardless of weight, unless a physician certifies a medical reason that prevents restraint. Missouri law requires children less than 40 pounds of weight, regardless of age, be properly restrained.
2. Less than 4 feet 9 inches tall (80 pounds or under age 8): Must use a booster seat. Children who are less than 80 pounds, and are less than 4’9” tall, must ride in a child booster seat. A booster seat should be used with a lap/shoulder belt at least 80 pounds or when a lap/shoulder belt alone fits properly.

Booster Seats

Booster seats are designed for children up to 80 pounds in whom the infant seat/convertible seat has been outgrown. They ride too low for the lap/shoulder belt to fit properly. They recline, lean forward or tilt for better position. Most children need boosters until age 8 or 4’9” tall.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have child passenger protection laws. The safest place for a child is belted or secured in the rear seat.

Rollover Simulator and Convincer

The Missouri State Highway Patrol can graphically demonstrate the importance of wearing a seat belt to your class or group with its rollover simulator.

In addition to the rollover demonstration, the Missouri State Highway Patrol has seat belt convincers. The convincer demonstrates the importance of wearing a seat belt by allowing the person to ride a seat on a ramp at about five mph. The demonstration is designed for those age 8 and up. The convincers were purchased by the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety.

To schedule a demonstration, contact your nearest troop headquarters or the Public Information and Education Division in Jefferson City at (573) 526-6115.

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