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What are Florida's Seat Belt Laws?

In 2006, 3,374 people died on Florida’s roads. That number has consistently been between 3,100 and 3,500 for the last five years. Traffic-related injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults between the ages of 6 and 27. Car crashes also account for another 250,000 to 300,000 injuries a year.

What are Florida’s Seat Belt Laws?

Drivers: All drivers must be in a safety belt.

Front Seat Passengers: Florida law requires that all passengers in the front seat of a vehicle be restrained by a safety belt. The number of passengers who may ride in the front seat is limited to the number of seat belts in the front seat. For instance, if you are in a pickup truck with a seat that extends across the cab, but only has two safety belts, it would be illegal to drive with three passengers in the front seats.

Under 18: Florida law requires everyone under the age of 18 to be restrained in a safety belt or a child restraint device. The driver is responsible for ensuring that all passengers under the age of 18 are belted in. If the underaged passengers are violating the law, the driver will be the one to receive the $30 citation.

Secondary Citation Laws: Florida is one of several states who still make seatbelt enforcement “secondary.” This means that the police officer may not pull over an unbelted driver solely to issue a ticket. The driver must have violated some other traffic law in order to receive a seatbelt citation.

Many other states have “primary” enforcement laws, which allow police officers to pull over and ticket offenders solely for not wearing a seat belt. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that if Florida enacted a primary enforcement safety belt law, 200 lives would be saved and 6,134 injuries would be prevented in the first year after enactment alone. In addition to saving lives, enacting a primary enforcement law would remove some of the great financial burden that unbelted drivers put on the economy in terms of lost time at work and emergency care costs.

The last time a study was conducted, about 59% of Floridians were using their safety belts in the driver’s and front passenger seat on a regular basis. The study, conducted by researchers at Florida State University, at the request of the Florida State Safety Office, was a random observational study of selected intersections in 13 Florida counties.

The “top ten” Florida counties with the greatest number of total car crash fatalities per year are:

Miami-Dade 345

Broward 257

Palm Beach 212

Hillsborough 193

Orange County 185

Polk County 159

Duval County 144

Volusia County 123

Lee County 122

Pinellas County 121

Lilly, O'Toole & Brown, LLP
Lakeland Office: (863) 683-1111
Bartow Office: (863) 533-5525M
Sebring Office: (863) 471-0003
Lake Wales Office: (863) 676-1991
Haines City Office: (863) 422-1282
Wauchula Office: (863) 767-1111

Also providing legal assistance to clients from:
Wauchula, Lake Placid, Avon Park, Plant City, Brandon, and Valrico, Florida.

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