Traffic Safety Laws
Safety Belts
The most important action that all passengers in vehicles must take is to buckle-up! While the safety belt usage rate in Virginia is 81%, an alarming 57% of our fatalities were not buckled up! Virginia law requires that passengers in the front seat be buckled. We strongly advocate that all passengers should be buckled up. This law is currently enforced as a secondary violation, meaning that riders in the front seat can only be sited for not buckling up if the vehicle is stopped for another reason. Primary enforcement of the safety belt law is a crucial step toward insuring that all Virginians buckle up. Several years ago, the General Assembly nearly passed this important legislation. DRIVE SMART will continue to work to educate legislators on the importance of enacting primary enforcement of this very important law. Click here to compare Virginia to other States.
