Seat belt evidence in Georgia after 2025 amendments

Seat belt evidence in civil actions under subsection (d)

O.C.G.A. 40-8-76.1(d)(1) provides that "The failure of an occupant of a motor vehicle to wear a seat safety belt in any seat of a motor vehicle which has a seat safety belt or belts" may be considered in any civil action as evidence admissible on the issues of negligence, comparative negligence, causation, assumption of risk, or apportionment of fault or for any other purpose, provided that the paragraph does not prevent a court from determining the admissibility of such evidence under Code Section 24-4-403 or any other statutory or common law rule of evidence. Subject to that same proviso, the paragraph also allows the failure to be evidence "used to diminish any recovery for damages arising out of the ownership, maintenance, occupancy, or operation of a motor vehicle". Whether the occupant is a truck driver or a passenger, the paragraph uses the general term motor vehicle, not the term passenger vehicle that subsection (a) defines. It covers any seat rather than only the front seat addressed by subsection (b). In a civil action arising from a truck crash, the provision applies by its own terms to an occupant in any seat of a motor vehicle equipped with a seat safety belt or belts, again subject to the court's power under Code Section 24-4-403. The paragraph applies the same terms to a truck driver as to any other occupant. A civil claim after a truck accident comes under subsection (d)(1) only where an occupant failed to wear an available belt, and the court still rules on admissibility under the rules of evidence. How courts apply that proviso is decided by court decisions, which this entry does not cover. O.C.G.A. 40-8-76.1(c), whose subject is the requirement of subsection (b), exempts listed persons and vehicles, such as a driver operating a passenger vehicle in reverse, and its text attaches those exemptions to the requirement of subsection (b).^[1]

Under subsection (d)(2), that same failure, whether by a truck driver or another occupant, "shall not be any basis for a cancellation of insurance coverage or an increase in insurance rate". Subsection (d) thus pairs an evidence rule with an insurance limit for an unbelted occupant of a vehicle with belts. The (d)(1) evidence rule applies in any civil action subject to Code Section 24-4-403 or any other rule of evidence, and the (d)(2) limit bars cancellation of coverage or a rate increase based on that failure. The (d)(2) text contains no separate insurance rule for truck crashes. For truck drivers, as for any other occupant, the insurance limit attaches to the failure to wear a belt itself. Under the SB 69 applicability note on the official code page, the rewritten subsection (d) applies only to causes of action commenced on or after April 21, 2025. The subsection (c) exemptions, by their wording, qualify only the requirement of subsection (b).^[1]

Effective date and application of the 2025 amendments

The history line on the official code page lists Ga. L. 2025, p. 19, Section 5 (SB 68) and Ga. L. 2025, p. 31, Section 4 (SB 69) as the latest amendments to O.C.G.A. 40-8-76.1, both effective April 21, 2025. The history line gives the same date for both acts and separates no truck accidents from other matters. The notes describe the first 2025 amendment as having rewritten subsection (d) and add that "The second 2025 amendment, effective April 21, 2025, made identical changes as the first 2025 amendment". An uncodified section of SB 69 provides that it shall be known and may be cited as the Georgia Courts Access and Consumer Protection Act. For SB 68, Section 9(b) states that provisions of that Act other than Sections 6 and 7 apply to causes of action pending on its effective date unless such application would be unconstitutional, but the editor's note places pending causes of action under the applicability provisions in SB 69. Under Section 5(c)(2) of SB 69, "Section 4 of this Act shall not apply to causes of action pending on the effective date of this Act". The same provision applies Section 4 only to causes of action commenced on or after the effective date and leaves causes of action commenced before that date to prior law. According to the editor's note, SB 69 was signed last, and therefore the applicability language relating to pending causes of action is governed by the applicability language in SB 69. Under that SB 69 language, a cause of action arising from a truck crash that was commenced before April 21, 2025 is governed by prior law, while one commenced on or after that date is governed by the rewritten subsection (d). Neither applicability note draws a line based on whether a party is a truck driver. Seat belt evidence in Georgia after 2025 therefore depends, under the SB 69 note, on when a cause of action was commenced. In the current text, subsection (c) states the exemptions from the subsection (b) belt requirement.^[1]

Passenger vehicle definition and front seat belt requirement

Subsection (a) of O.C.G.A. 40-8-76.1 defines the term passenger vehicle to mean "every motor vehicle" that is "designed to carry 15 passengers or fewer and used for the transportation of persons", and the definition expressly includes pickup trucks and vans as well as sport utility vehicles. Because the definition names pickup trucks, a truck driver operating a pickup truck that meets every term of subsection (a) is the driver of a passenger vehicle under that text. The definition excludes motorcycles and motor driven cycles. It also excludes off-road vehicles or pickup trucks used in connection with agricultural pursuits usual and normal to the user's farming operation, where the person using them is 18 years of age or older and is the owner or driver of the vehicle or an occupant of it. A further exclusion covers motor vehicles designed to carry 11 to 15 passengers which were manufactured prior to July 1, 2015, and which, as of that date, did not have manufacturer installed seat safety belts. For a vehicle involved in a truck accident, subsection (a) applies the same design and use terms, read with these exclusions. For vehicles inside that definition, the subsection (c) exemptions narrow the belt duty that subsection (b) imposes.^[1]

Subject to the exemptions listed in subsection (c), subsection (b) provides that each occupant of the front seat of a passenger vehicle shall, "while such passenger vehicle is being operated on a public road, street, or highway of this state," be restrained by a seat safety belt approved under Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208. Subsection (e)(3) requires the same restraint, under the same operating condition, for each minor eight years of age or older who is an occupant of a passenger vehicle, and its text names no particular seat. By contrast, subsection (d)(1) speaks of any seat of a motor vehicle that has belts, while subsection (b) is limited to front seat occupants of passenger vehicles. For a truck crash, the defined term in subsection (a) controls the reach of subsection (b), while subsection (d)(1) uses the words motor vehicle. A truck driver in the front seat of a passenger vehicle operated on a Georgia public road is among the occupants subsection (b) reaches, unless a subsection (c) exemption applies.^[1]

Exemptions from the subsection (b) requirement

Subsection (c) of O.C.G.A. 40-8-76.1 provides that "The requirement of subsection (b) of this Code section shall not apply to" the persons and vehicles it lists. An exemption covers a driver or passenger frequently stopping and leaving the vehicle or delivering property from the vehicle, if the speed of the vehicle between stops does not exceed 15 miles per hour. Another covers a driver or passenger possessing a written statement from a physician that the person is unable, for medical or physical reasons, to wear a seat safety belt. A driver or passenger holding an official certificate or license endorsement issued by the appropriate agency in another state or country is also exempt when it indicates that the driver is "unable for medical, physical, or other valid reasons to wear a seat safety belt". The subsection (b) requirement does not apply to a driver operating a passenger vehicle in reverse, which can include a truck driver backing a pickup truck that meets the subsection (a) definition. Where an exemption speaks of a driver, its text draws no distinction for truck drivers.^[1]

Under the same subsection (c), the subsection (b) requirement does not apply to a passenger vehicle with a model year prior to 1965, or to a passenger vehicle which is not required to be equipped with seat safety belts under federal law. Subsection (c) also exempts "A passenger vehicle operated by a rural letter carrier of the United States Postal Service while performing duties as a rural letter carrier", as well as a passenger vehicle from which a person is delivering newspapers. The list also covers a passenger vehicle performing an emergency service. Where a truck crash involves one of these vehicles, subsection (c) by its words lifts only the subsection (b) requirement. Under subsection (c)(1), a truck driver making frequent delivery stops in a passenger vehicle is exempt from subsection (b) when the speed between stops does not exceed 15 miles per hour. That speed condition attaches only to (c)(1), and other subsection (c) exemptions, such as those for a passenger vehicle from which a person is delivering newspapers or one operated by a rural letter carrier performing those duties, carry no speed condition.^[1]

Fines, offense status and probable cause under subsections (e) and (f)

Except as otherwise provided in paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (e), a person failing to comply with subsection (b) of O.C.G.A. 40-8-76.1, whose requirement is subject to the subsection (c) exemptions, is not guilty of any criminal act and is not guilty of violating any ordinance. A violation of the Code section is not a moving traffic violation for purposes of Code Section 40-5-57. Under subsection (e)(2), a person failing to comply with subsection (b) is guilty of the offense of failure to wear a seat safety belt and, upon conviction, may be fined not more than $15.00. Notwithstanding Chapter 11 of Title 17 and any other provision of law to the contrary, the costs of that prosecution are not taxed, and no "additional penalty, fee, or surcharge to a fine for such offense" is assessed. The court imposing the fine forwards a record of the disposition to the Department of Driver Services. Under subsection (e)(3), when a minor passenger eight years of age or older is not restrained as that paragraph requires, the driver of the passenger vehicle is guilty of failure to secure a seat safety belt on a minor and may be fined not more than $25.00. The court imposing that fine forwards a record of the court disposition of the minor belt case to the Department of Driver Services. A truck driver at the wheel of a passenger vehicle carrying such a minor is the driver the text makes responsible for that offense. The fines in subsection (e) are separate from subsection (d), which governs evidence in any civil action, including one arising from truck accidents, subject to Code Section 24-4-403.^[1]

Under subsection (f), probable cause for violation of the Code section "shall be based solely upon a law enforcement officer's clear and unobstructed view of a person not restrained as required by this Code section". Subsection (f) applies that same standard when the unrestrained person is a truck driver in a passenger vehicle. Subsection (f) further provides that "Noncompliance with the restraint requirements of this Code section shall not constitute probable cause for violation of any other Code section". The probable cause text in subsection (f) contains no separate standard for truck crashes. The front seat requirement of subsection (b) remains subject to O.C.G.A. 40-8-76.1(c), under which it does not apply to a passenger vehicle performing an emergency service, among the other listed cases.^[1]

See also: Flanagan Law truck accident practice

See also

On related publications

• Georgia truck-crash law notes (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Liability and comparative fault in Georgia (caraccidentlawyers.wiki)