What Are Missouri’s Seat Belt Laws?
From the moment you first started driving, you were told to always wear seat belts. Seat belts are designed to provide protection in the event of a car accident. Your safety belt can keep you from being launched through the windshield and minimize the impact of your injuries, as well as reduce your chances of losing your life.
Missouri seat belt laws require you to wear a seatbelt. It’s important to know the full requirement of Missouri law on wearing seat belts to keep yourself and your loved ones safe while on the road. It’s also important to know what to do if you’re in a car accident without a seat belt.
Hipskind & McAninch, LLC is dedicated to providing legal assistance for any victim in a motor vehicle accident. We help you understand your rights to get the compensation you deserve after a car crash. In this blog, we discuss the laws on seat belts for Missouri drivers and how seat belts can impact your personal injury case.
Understanding Missouri’s Seat Belt Laws
The laws in the state require all drivers and passengers to wear a seatbelt in an operating vehicle. All front seat passengers must wear a seat belt when the vehicle is in motion.
Drivers are required to ensure that all children under the age of 16 wear a seatbelt or are properly restrained through child restraints. If children are above the age of 8 and under the age of 16, they must wear a seat belt or use proper restraints whether they are in the front seat or back seat.
The law does not specify requirements to wear a seatbelt in the back seat for those above the age of 16. Technically, an adult can ride around in the back without a seatbelt, however, it is strongly advised that one always be worn. In 2023, the Missouri Department of Transportation published statistics on car accidents that revealed 989 fatalities, 63% of which were not wearing a seatbelt.
Missouri’s Seat Belt Laws Require an Appropriate Child Safety Seat
If you have a child in your vehicle, you must take extra precautions to ensure their safety. Small children can’t wear a seat belt, though all children under the age of 4 or who are under 40 pounds must be secured into a properly sized child safety seat.
Any child between the ages of 4 and 7 who weighs under 40 pounds should be seated in an appropriate booster seat. A booster seat helps align them for a better fit of the shoulder strap on the seat belt in the back seat.
When children reach the age of 8 or weigh at least 80 pounds, and they meet the height requirements of 4’9” or taller, you can choose to put them in a booster or have them just use a seatbelt for restraints.
Penalties for Violating Seat Belt Laws in Missouri
Even though there are laws in place that a driver and their passengers, especially children, must follow, not wearing a seatbelt in a passenger car is only deemed a secondary offense. Law enforcement officers aren’t going to pull you over for failing to wear a seatbelt, and not wearing one does not give them probable cause. They must first observe another type of traffic violation committed by a driver, such as speeding or running a red light.
If drivers and passengers aren’t wearing a seatbelt during the traffic stop, there will be fines and court costs. An adult driver or passenger without a seatbelt could receive a $10 fine while any child passenger that is not properly fastened with a seatbelt or safety seat will cost the driver $50 along with court costs. While it may not be a huge fine, coupled with other traffic violations, it can add up.
Exceptions to State Seat Belt Laws
It is always a driver’s responsibility to make sure that any child or other passengers in their vehicle are buckled up. There are exceptions to the laws though, in the following circumstances, that permit mail carriers to be exempt.
Additionally, those working in agricultural jobs in work vehicles on private property are also exempt from these laws. Certain medical conditions that doctors must sign off on can be exempt as well as any motorist operating a vehicle that was manufactured prior to 1968 as it may not be equipped with this safety feature.
Potential Impacts of a Car Accident Without Wearing a Seat Belt
If you get into a car accident and you aren’t wearing a seatbelt, you will be more likely to have severe injuries. It does not matter if you did not cause the accident either. In many cases, those not wearing a seatbelt were following the other rules of the road.
It’s a huge risk to drive or ride as a passenger without using a seatbelt, not just for the injuries you and your family may incur. Since Missouri is a pure comparative negligence state, you could be deemed partially responsible for your own injuries if you didn’t wear your seat belt at the time of the crash.
Under Missouri law, the damages you collect will be reduced by your degree of fault in this situation. This can become problematic because insurers will jump at the chance to blame you for not wearing your seat belt. They will claim that your injuries could have been prevented in this car accident had you only been wearing it.
What to Do If You Were in a Car Crash Without a Seatbelt
If you didn’t have your seatbelt on when you were in a car wreck, you must take the right steps to protect your rights. The insurer may argue that if you’d worn your safety belt, you wouldn’t be injured. An attorney can argue back that if the other driver hadn’t crashed into your car, you would not have suffered injuries.
Make sure that you contact an attorney to discuss your case, whether you weren’t wearing your seatbelt or you noticed that the other driver failed to wear one. For car accident legal help, contact Hipskind & McAninch, LLC to set up a free consultation.
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