Seatbelt laws are essential to ensuring the safety of one’s friends and family members in vehicles. Wearing seatbelts has been proven to drastically reduce serious injury and fatalities for victims of car accidents. Even so, transportation agencies have not done an adequate job of reinforcing the need to wear seatbelts. To learn more, reach out to a Phoenix car accident attorney from the Law Offices of William D. Black today.
Laws Regarding Seatbelts in Arizona
Arizona requires, by law, that seatbelts are used where installed in the front seats of the vehicle. Despite this, Arizona is only a secondary enforcement state, meaning that someone cannot be pulled over for failure to wear a seatbelt, but they can be ticketed for it in the case that they are pulled over for another infraction. In any case, there is an exception in which Arizona becomes primary enforcement if the individual not wearing a seatbelt is a child under the age of five.
However, anyone without a buckled seatbelt under the age of 16 is deemed the responsibility of the vehicle’s driver, meaning the operator will be cited if the children are not properly secured in their seats.
Buckling Up Children in Arizona
Most of the regulations regarding car seats in Arizona are in Section 28-907, which states that car seats are required for all children five years old and younger. Additionally, car seats are not permitted to be facing forward if the child is under five and may never be in the front seat due to the risk of airbag impact.
Booster seats are also required for any child between the ages of five to seven. The only exception to this rule is if the child has reached the height of four feet and nine inches, in which case they can sit without any sort of booster or car seat. Children eight years old or older do not have to sit in a booster, regardless of their height.
Finally, although there are no specific laws regarding children sitting in the front seat of the car in Arizona, most car manufacturers do not recommend allowing children to sit in the front until they have reached at least 13 years of age.
Violating Arizona Seatbelt Laws
Penalties for violating Arizona seatbelt laws can vary from only a couple to a couple of hundred dollars in civil fees. Although it may not sound like an enormous amount of money in comparison to other violations of the law, the real risk comes to one’s safety and security. The City of Phoenix reports that if only 90% of individuals properly buckled themselves in, 5,500 deaths and 132,000 injuries could be prevented annually. Even more concerning, only 50% of Americans properly buckle themselves in, leaving a great number of individuals who are unnecessarily putting their lives on the line daily.
Car Accident Attorneys in the Phoenix Metro Area
To learn more about how to prevent injury and death in car accidents, reach out to a Phoenix car accident attorney such as Bill Black today. Our firm can be reached by phone at 844.224.0054, or online through our messaging system. Our lawyers are dedicated to keeping Arizonans safe at all times and are more than willing to provide counsel to you and your family in time of need.