Pretty much everyone has thought at one point or another about just skipping the seat belt. They’re uncomfortable, constricting (and not just in the useful way) and sometimes the choke hold they offer just doesn’t seem to be worth it. There are two reasons when that urge strikes to keep the belt on: getting a ticket or dying a horrible death. Find out more about when you have to wear a seat belt in Georgia (and why you should) by reading.
First of all, the number one reason to wear a seat belt is to prevent serious injury and death. It’s easy to think an accident won’t happen to us, but let’s look at some statistics. Georgia has seen 95 percent of motorists wearing seatbelts in recent years (which is awesome!), but folks without seat belts make up over 60 percent of traffic fatalities. That means five percent of people are make up over half of all deaths. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be part of that five percent.
When you need to wear a seat belt
Anyone in the front seats of a car, pickup, van or sport utility vehicle designed to car ten or fewer passengers needs to wear their seat belt on roads. This does not included when you are using a pickup or other vehicle as part of daily farm use.
Children between the ages of eight and eighteen also need to wear a seat belt no matter what seat they are in, and any younger children need to be secured in a car seat or other sort of vehicle child restraint.
When you don’t need to wear a seat belt
There are some exceptions to these rules. You do not need to wear a seat belt if:
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- You are making lot of stops to deliver things (think delivering mail, or newspapers, or cookies from a school fundraiser)
- You have a doctor’s note saying you physically should not be wearing a seat belt
- You’re driving backwards
- Your vehicle is more than 40 years old
- You are performing an emergency service
As you can see, there’s a fair number of logical times when you don’t need to use a seat belt. But generally speaking, if you’re going at even moderate speeds, the answer to “Do I have to wear my seat belt?” is yes. The roads can be dangerous out there, so, as the one hundred deadly days of summer come to a close, put your belt back on, make sure the other safety features in your vehicle are working, and stay safe!
