Norwich, Vermont

Child Restraint Law - Seatbelt/Car Seat Safety

Child Restraint Law

EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1st , 2004

Title 23: Motor Vehicles

Chapter 13: Operation of Vehicles

23 V.S.A. § 1258. Child restraint systems
§ 1258. Child restraint systems; persons under age 16

(a) No person shall operate a motor vehicle, other than a type I school bus, in this state upon a public highway unless every occupant under age 16 is properly restrained in a federally-approved child passenger restraining system as defined in 49 C.F.R. § 571.213 (1993) or a federally-approved safety belt, as follows:

(1) all children under the age of one, and all children weighing less than 20 pounds, regardless of age, shall be restrained in a rear-facing position, properly secured in a federally-approved child passenger restraining system, which shall not be installed in front of an active air bag;

(2) a child weighing more than 20 pounds, and who is one year of age or older and under the age of eight years, shall be restrained in a child passenger restraining system; and

(3) a child eight through 15 years of age shall be restrained in a safety belt system or a child passenger restraining system.

(b) A person shall not be adjudicated in violation of this section if:

(1) the motor vehicle is regularly used to transport passengers for hire except a motor vehicle owned or operated by a day care facility; or

(2) the motor vehicle was manufactured without safety belts.

(c) The penalty for violation of this section shall be as follows:

(1) $25.00 for a first violation;

(2) $50.00 for a second violation;

(3) $100.00 for third and subsequent violations. (Added 1983, No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; amended 1987, No. 49; 1989, No. 167 (Adj. Sess.); 1993, No. 20, § 1; 1993, No. 119 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2003, No. 28, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 2004.)

Car Seats