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An Overview of Florida Seat Belt Laws

Florida’s seat belt laws require all front seat occupants to be restrained. Adult passengers are not required by state law to wear a seat belt. The fine for non-compliance is $30. Florida is a “secondary offense” state, meaning that the police officer may not pull you over simply for not wearing a seat belt, but must observe some other road violation before he may pull you over.

Children ages 6-17 must be belted whenever they are in the car.

Infants must ride in rear-facing safety seats until they are at least one year old and weigh 20 lbs. or more.

Children under the age of 3 must be restrained in a child safety seat.

Children 4-5 must be restrained in a child safety seat, booster seat, or safety belt.

There is no requirement in Florida law that children ride in the back seat of vehicles, however, the National Safety Council recommends that children under the age of 12 should not ride in the passenger seat. Since the NSC launched its Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, which educates parents about child safety in cars, there has been an 18% reduction in overall fatalities of children under the age of 12. More importantly, there has been a 46% reduction in front seat fatalities.

Beginning in 1998, all new passenger cars and light trucks were required to have both driver and passenger airbags and safety belts. While it is estimated that air bags save over 1,000 lives a year, they can be dangerous for children under the age of 12. Because children are shorter than adults, the airbags designed to save adult lives can be deadly to children when they deploy. Airbags inflate in less than 1/25^th of a second (faster than the blinking eye), and the force can snap a young child’s neck if it strikes at the right angle.

About 3,000 Floridians die each year in car accidents. Of these, nearly 2/3 were passengers in someone else’s car.

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