New Illinois Seatbelt Law Will Increase Safety

CHICAGO, IL, March 26, 2012

Wearing seatbelts saves lives. A new Illinois seatbelt law intends to get more people wearing seatbelts and thus save more lives.

Starting the first day of 2012 the new seatbelt law requires that all passengers in vehicles need to wear seatbelts with some exceptions. Prior to the new law only passengers in the front seat and children riding in the backseat were required to wear seatbelts. Under the new law everyone in the car needs to wear a seatbelt regardless of age or seat positioning unless they are exempt of the law. A minimum fine of $25 is imposed for violators of the new law, along with the added possibility of having to pay court fees.

Certain types of passengers are exempt to the new seatbelt law including bus passengers, people riding in emergency vehicles, people who drive a vehicle in reverse, rural postal carriers, passengers who are unable to use seatbelts for medical reasons and passengers of taxis. Taxi drivers are required to wear seatbelts.

The motivation to enact the law is to further ensure the vehicle safety of both drivers and passengers. Many statistics show that sitting in the back seat of the vehicle is the safest place, but the likelihood of injury is still significantly lowered when everyone is wearing a seatbelt. In many car accidents unbelted backseat passengers get thrown forward with enough force to seriously injure both front seat drivers and passengers. Unbelted passengers can increase the rate of serious injury to other passengers by 40 percent. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 38 Illinois backseat passengers who were not wearing seatbelts died in car accidents in 2010.

Illinois will become one of 27 states, joining the District of Columbia, that will require all vehicle passengers wear seatbelts.

Seidman Law Offices
Chicago Personal Injury Lawyers
20 S Clark St,
Chicago, IL
United States 60603
Voice: 312-445-9034
Website: http://www.seidmanlaw.net