Buckle up, it’s the law!
Under Michigan’s seat belt and child-safety restraint laws, a law enforcement officer may stop a vehicle if the driver and occupants are not properly buckled up.
Michigan law requires:
- All front seat passengers to be buckled up (including the driver).
- All passengers younger than age 16 to be buckled up, in all seating positions
- All children younger than age 8 to be in an approved child-safety seat or booster seat, in all seating positions, unless 4 feet 9 inches or taller.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that seat belts save more than 13,000 lives each year and that buckling up is the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself in a crash.
How to make sure you are following the laws:
- Be responsible – make sure all passengers are properly buckled up.
- Even if the vehicle is equipped with air bags, they are not a substitute for wearing a seat belt.
- Everyone in the vehicle will be safer when seat belts are worn correctly – shoulder belt across the middle of the chest away from the neck, with the lap belt worn low across the hips below the stomach.
Drivers exempt from using a seat belt because of a medical condition must a doctor’s statement
