Walk It Through: The Car Seat
A restraint under five, a line at four feet nine inches, a stop that asks age and height, and a penalty dropped for a seat acquired.
A parent drives a toddler on the highway in an ordinary seat belt.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One family and one stop. The exceptions for certain vehicles and emergencies, and the federal standards a restraint must meet, are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Seat belt violationA front seat occupant not wearing a fastened belt while the vehicle is moving, or a passenger under sixteen years of age the driver does not require to wear one. The maximum civil penalty is $10.
- Child restraint systemWhat a child under five years of age rides in on the highways, and what a passenger at least five and under eight, not more than four feet nine inches tall, is restrained in.