Florida Drivers Handbook |
3.2. Safety Belts
Safety Belts
The driver and front seat passengers must wear seat belts.
The seat belt law applies to passenger cars manufactured
beginning with the 1968 model year, and trucks beginning
with the 1972 model year. It is unlawful for any person
to operate a vehicle in this state unless every passenger
of the vehicle under the age of 18 is restrained by a safety
belt or by a child restraint device, regardless of seating
position.
If the passenger is 18 years of age or older and fails to
wear a seat belt when required by law, the passenger will
be charged with the violation.
The law exempts the following from the seat belt requirements:
-
Any person certified by a physician
as having a medical condition that causes the seat belt
use to be inappropriate or dangerous.
-
Employee of a newspaper home delivery
service while delivering newspapers on home delivery routes.
-
School buses.
-
Buses used for transportation of persons
for compensation.
-
Farm equipment.
-
Trucks of a net weight of more than
5,000 pounds.
-
Motorcycle, moped or bicycle.
In a crash, you are far more likely to be
killed if you are not wearing a safety belt. Wearing shoulder
belts and lap belts make your chances of living through
a crash twice as good.
In a crash, safety belts:
-
Keep you from being thrown from the
vehicle. The risk of death is five times greater if you
are thrown from a vehicle in a crash.
-
Keep you from being thrown against
others in the vehicle.
-
Keep the driver behind the wheel, where
he or she can control the vehicle.
-
Keep you from being thrown against
parts of your vehicle, such as the steering wheel or windshield.
SAFETY BELTS SAVE LIVES!
Wear a lap belt around your hips, not your stomach.
Fasten the belt snugly. Wear a shoulder belt only with a
lap belt. Don’t just use your safety belt for long
trips or high-speed highways. More than half of the crashes
that cause injury or death happen at speeds less than 40
MPH and within 25 miles from home.
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