Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Seat Belts - Be sure to wear them!

New Jersey's seat belt law has changed yet again, effective immediately.  Under N.J.S.A. 39:3-76.2(f) and (g), all occupants of a passenger automobile, including adults sitting in the back seat of the vehicle, must be wearing a seat belt while the vehicle is in operation.

[Note:  In NJ, "operation" means once the key has been turned in the ignition, even when the vehicle is not in motion.]

There are a few exceptions to this statute including for vehicles manufactured prior to July 1, 1966; people who have doctors' notes explaining that they cannot wear seat belts for medical reasons, passenger automobiles that aren't required to have seat belts under federal law, and passenger automobiles originally constructed with fewer seat belts than seats.

A new accompanying statute, N.J.S.A. 39:3-76.2(n), establishes this new provision as a "secondary statute" under New Jersey traffic law.  The statute shall only be enforced, therefore, when the driver has been detained for some other suspected violation of law.

Each rear seat passenger in violation of the new statute who is over the age of eighteen shall be responsible for any fine imposed for his or her failure to wear a seat belt.

1 comment:

  1. I wish they were that strict on seatbelts here in Miami. They'd save a whole lot of lives.

    ReplyDelete

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