(Oklahoma City, OK)
New legislation has been filed that would require all minors to wear a seat belt while riding in the back seat of a vehicle. House Bill 2791 aims to protect younger passengers by strengthening current seat belt laws.
State Representative Ross Ford filed House Bill 2791 that would raise the minimum age requirement from age 8 to 17, “This bill is about protecting our young people from death or serious injury when they are riding as passengers in our automobiles,” Ford said. “As a former police officer, the worst news you can ever deliver to a parent is that their child was killed in a car crash because they were not wearing a seat belt.”
In 2017, more than 60% of children who died in crashes in Oklahoma were not wearing a seat belt or riding in a child seat, according to the OHSO. Of the 29 unstrained children in crashes in 2017, 18 were killed, or 62.1%. In 2018, nine of the 26, or 34.6%, of unrestrained children were killed in crashes.
Oklahoma is currently last in the nation in backseat crash fatalities, and the only state without seat belt laws for that age gap.
