Seat Belt Safety Law
Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-9-603 describes Tennessee as a primary safety belt state. Drivers are required to wear safety belts at all times when operating a motor vehicle in Tennessee. All drivers and front seat passengers are covered by the seat belt law and must have a seat belt properly fastened about their bodies at all times when the vehicle is in a forward motion.
Children less than age 18 are covered under the Tennessee Child Passenger Safety and Graduated Driver Licensing laws. All occupants in ALL seating positions should buckle up. Unbuckled rear-seat occupants can injure buckled front-seat occupants, as well as themselves, when they are thrown around or out of a vehicle during a crash.
Access a free online version of the Tennessee Code for more information about this law.
Frequently Asked Questions
Law Enforcement Campaigns
As summer kicks off and families hit the road for vacation, the Tennessee Highway Safety Office partners with local law enforcement to remind motorists to “Click It or Ticket.” From May to June, participating agencies across the state increase seat belt enforcement as part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) nationwide mobilization.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half (48%) of the passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes in 2016 were unrestrained. At night from 6 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., that number soared to 56 percent of those killed. That’s why one focus of the “Click It or Ticket” campaign is nighttime enforcement. Participating law enforcement agencies will be taking a no-excuses approach to seat belt law enforcement, writing citations day and night.
To launch the Tennessee Highway Safety Office’s “Click It or Ticket” seat belt initiative with the highest level of support, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spearheads “Border to Border” (B2B), a 1-day national seat belt awareness kickoff event coordinated by participating State highway safety offices and their respective law enforcement liaisons.
The B2B program aims to increase law enforcement participation by coordinating highly visible seat belt enforcement and providing seat belt fact sheets for drivers at heavily traveled and highly visible State border checkpoints. The B2B event is held in May, commencing “Click It or Ticket” week, which runs through June and covers the busy Memorial Day holiday weekend.
Video Gallery
Saved By The Belt
For Tennessee Law Enforcement:
- To identify individuals whose lives are saved or injuries significantly reduced because they were wearing a safety belt or protected by an air bag and a safety belt at the time of a crash.
- To provide documented evidence of cases where safety belts and other occupant protection devices “made the difference”
- To reinforce the life-saving importance of occupant protection for individuals involved in motor vehicle crashes and encourage others to use them.
- To increase Tennessee public awareness on the benefits of use of safety belts, air bags and child safety seats.
Persons who are eligible for receiving the certificate(s) must meet all of the following criteria:
- Nominee must be a Tennessee resident.
- Any person and/or their spouse and children involved in a motor vehicle crash whose lives were saved or injuries reduced because of the use of a safety restraint or air bag and safety belt.
- The crash occurred after December 31, 2007 to present.
- Nominees must be using the proper combination of safety restraints. For example, safety belts were properly used in vehicles equipped with an airbag; use of the manual lap belt is required with some automatic belt systems; child nominees who are required to be restrained by a child safety seat must be properly secured in the child restraint and the restraint must be properly secured in the vehicle by a safety belt.
- Nominees may not be the driver of the “at-fault” vehicle; i.e., if the crash review finds the crash could have been prevented the nominee will NOT qualify.
Each entry will be reviewed using the following criteria:
- Severity of crash.
- Severity of injuries/condition.
- Circumstances surrounding the crash .
- After full review, The Tennessee “Saved By The Belt” Committee reserves the right not to grant the presentation of the certificate(s) .
Nominees agree to allow the use of their name and crash information in promotional activities for the “Saved By The Belt” program. Nominees release the Tennessee Department of Transportation, Department of Safety and its representatives from any obligation or liability associated with the certificate(s) and subsequent promotions of this program.
Steve Dillard
East Tennessee Region Law Enforcement Liaison
Phone: 423.421.3443
Fax: 423.305.0898
Email: stevedil@comcast.net