The seat belt laws in Georgia make it mandatory for both the drivers and the passengers in a passenger vehicle (such as a car) to wear their safety belts while traveling. There are penalties for not ensuring your children are properly secured.
These laws are designed to protect you if you are ever in a motor vehicle accident. If you do get into an accident and are still injured despite wearing your seat belt, an Atlanta car accident lawyer can explain your rights to you.
What Are Georgia’s Seat Belt Laws?
O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76-76.1 are quite detailed and make the following seat belt requirements for Georgia’s vehicle manufacturers and vehicle owners:
- All cars built after 1963 must come with seat belts.
- All drivers and passengers have to wear their seat belts while the car is in motion.
- Children above a certain height and/or weight can be restrained with a seat belt alone. Those who do not meet the threshold must have an additional safety restraint, like a booster seat.
- Seat belts are sometimes required in buses as well as in cars and trucks.
Penalties for Violating Georgia Seat Belt Laws
There is a fine if an adult driver or front-seat passenger fails to buckle up. Additionally, driving without a seat and shoulder belt puts you at a greater risk of serious harm in a crash. You do not want to suffer life-altering physical and psychological injuries when you could have easily prevented them just by buckling your safety belt.
Adults who fail to properly secure children may be charged a small fine. The fine increases after the first offense.
Other Consequences of Not Wearing a Seat Belt
Georgia imposes minimal legal consequences for not wearing a seat belt, but the law is not the only thing you have to worry about. Not wearing a seat belt may increase your chance of sustaining catastrophic injuries that appear right away or hours after the fact. That includes:
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs)
- Broken bones
- Amputation
- Back and spinal cord injuries
- Severe road rash
For a free legal consultation, call 404-214-2001
Why Are There Seat Belt Laws in Georgia?
Seat belts are a proven safety measure. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), seat belts save thousands of lives every year, and they could save thousands more if everyone wore them all the time. Seat belts protect you by:
- Restricting your movements so that you are not thrown around inside the car
- Preventing you from being ejected from the motor vehicle
- Keeping people in the front row from getting too close to the airbags during impact
Do Seat Belt Laws Prevent All Car Accident Injuries?
Unfortunately, no. Some people choose to disregard these laws and drive without fastening their belts. Others do wear seat belts, but the traffic accident was so violent or occurred at such a high speed that they still suffered grave injuries.
Sometimes, the seat belt itself can cause injuries. While these can be painful and require medical attention, they are typically far less severe than the injuries you would have sustained without the belt there to protect you.
Why Do Georgians Refuse to Wear Seat Belts?
The vast majority of Georgians do use seat belts. Page 3 of a report issued by the Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety shows that 90.1 percent of people wear seat belts in passenger vehicles.
The 9.9 percent of Georgians who go without a seat belt may do so for a variety of reasons, including:
- A false sense of security based on the car’s other safety features (e.g., “The airbags are enough”) or the brief duration of the trip (e.g., “It is only a couple of blocks”)
- Gender stereotypes around masculinity and differences in the willingness to take risks (men went without seat belts more often than women)
- A dislike for how the belt feels or how it supposedly affects the user’s clothing
Georgia Laws and Your Right to Car Accident Compensation
The importance of wearing a lap belt cannot be overemphasized. That said, even if you were not wearing a seat belt at the time of your auto accident, this fact may not prevent you from recovering damages.
O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76.1 says that not wearing a seat belt “shall not be considered evidence of negligence.” In other words, if you get into an accident while not wearing a seat belt, you will not be blamed for your injuries, and you can still recover compensation from the person who hit you.
Compensation for Georgia Car Crash Injuries
Your settlement or jury award should reflect everything you lost because of the car crash. In other words, the more serious your injuries are, the more money you may be able to collect. You might qualify for compensation based on the following:
- Pain and suffering, both physical and mental
- Reduced quality of life
- Disabling injuries
- Medical costs
- Damage to your car and diminishment of the car’s value
- Loss of wages or future earning capacity
Legal Support for Your Georgia Personal Injury Case
Whether you wore your seat belt or not, the injuries you sustained are very painful and can easily distract you from putting the required attention and effort into a legal case. You may find it easier to handle your case by allowing a car accident lawyer to manage it for you.
To find the right law firm:
- Get your car accident case evaluated by a firm that offers free consultations
- Tell the law firm the entire truth about your car accident, including whether or not you were wearing a seat belt
- Meet with the law firm for as long as it takes to ask all your questions and get a sense of how they operate as a team
- Make sure they are willing to put your needs first, remain accessible throughout your case, and educate you about your rights so that you can make the right decisions
Click to contact our personal injury lawyers today
Are Georgia’s Seat Belt Laws Relevant to Your Case?
Find out by calling Kaine Law today. With multiple decades of combined experience, our legal team is more than prepared to help clients identify and navigate whatever laws pertain to their case, including seat belt laws in Georgia, and fight for fair compensation. The initial case review can be conducted over the phone, free of charge.
Call or text 404-214-2001 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
