Seat belts and child restraints

Explanation

Seat belts and child restraints improve the chance of surviving a crash. For drivers and front-seat passengers, a worn seat belt raises the chance of survival by 45 percent and cuts the risk of serious injury by 50 percent.

• Indiana requires the driver and all passengers to use seat belts whenever a vehicle is operating. Bus operators must use one too.
• Air bags do not replace seat belts. The two systems are designed to work together, and not wearing a belt can lead to injury from an air bag.
• Wear the belt low on the hips and flat across the collar bone.
• Set the head restraint higher than the top of the head and as close behind the head as possible.
• Sit at least 12 inches from the steering wheel.
• The manual lists specific exemptions. A medical exemption requires written documentation from a physician; other examples include certain delivery, parade, ambulance-treatment-area and work-vehicle occupants.
• A passenger younger than eight must be properly secured in a child restraint system, such as a car seat or booster seat.
• With a passenger-side air bag, the National Safety Council recommends that a child younger than 12 ride in the back seat. This is a safety recommendation, not the under-eight restraint rule.

Example

Before driving, you buckle everyone in, place a seven-year-old in the proper child restraint and move your seat until you can control the vehicle while sitting at least 12 inches from the steering wheel.

Common mistake

Treating an air bag as a substitute for a seat belt. Air bags and belts work together; always use the belt unless a specific legal exemption applies.

What the manual says

A seat belt must be used even in a vehicle with one or more air bags.

Everyone should wear their seat belts low on the hips and flat across the collar bone.

Passengers younger than eight years of age are required by law to be properly secured in a child restraint system such as a child car seat or booster seat.