GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 1999
SESSION LAW 1999-183
AN ACT TO ENHANCE MOTOR VEHICLE OCCUPANT RESTRAINT SAFETY.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 20-135.2A(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a) Each front seat
occupant who is 16 years of age or older and each driver of a passenger motor
vehicle manufactured with seat safety belts in compliance with
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208 must shall have such
a safety seat belt properly fastened about his or her body at
all times when the vehicle is in forward motion on a street or highway in this
State. Each driver of a passenger motor vehicle manufactured
with seat safety belts in compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard
No. 208, who is transporting in the front seat a person who is (i) under 16
years of age and (ii) not required to be restrained in accordance with G.S.
20-137.1, must have the person secured by such a safety belt at all times when
the vehicle is operated in forward motion on a street or highway in this State.
Persons required to be restrained in accordance with G.S 20-11 and G.S.
20-137.1 must be secured as required by those sections."
Section 2. G.S. 20-135.2A(e) reads as rewritten:
"(e) Any person
violating this section during the period from October 1, 1985, to December 31,
1986, shall be given a warning of violation only. Thereafter, any person
violating Any driver or passenger who fails to wear a seat belt as
required by this section shall have committed an infraction and shall pay a
fine penalty of twenty-five dollars ($25.00). An
infraction is an unlawful act that is not a crime. The procedure for charging
and trying an infraction is the same as for a misdemeanor, but conviction Conviction
of an infraction under this section has no consequence other than
payment of a fine. penalty. A person convicted of an
infraction found responsible for a violation of this section may not
be assessed court costs."
Section 3. G.S. 20-135.2A(h) is repealed.
Section 4. G.S. 20-135.2B(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c) Any person violating
this section shall have committed an infraction and shall pay a fine penalty
of twenty-five dollars ($25.00). An infraction is an unlawful act that
is not a crime. The procedure for charging and trying an infraction is the same
as for a misdemeanor, but conviction Conviction of an infraction under
this section has no consequence other than payment of a fine. penalty.
A person convicted of an infraction found responsible for a
violation of this section may not be assessed court costs."
Section 5. Section 3 of Chapter 672 of the 1993 Session Laws is repealed.
Section 6. G.S. 20-137.1(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a) Every driver who is
transporting a child one or more passengers of less than 12 16
years of age shall have the child all such passengers properly
secured in a child passenger restraint system (car safety seat) or
seat belt which meets federal standards applicable at the time of its
manufacture. The requirements of this section may be met when the
child is four years of age or older by securing the child in a seat safety
belt.
(a1) A child less than five years of age and less than 40 pounds in weight shall be properly secured in a weight-appropriate child passenger restraint system. In vehicles equipped with an active passenger-side front air bag, if the vehicle has a rear seat, a child less than five years of age and less than 40 pounds in weight shall be properly secured in a rear seat, unless the child restraint system is designed for use with air bags."
Section 7. G.S. 20-137.1(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c) Any person driver
convicted of violating found responsible for a violation of this
section may be punished by a fine penalty not to exceed twenty-five
dollars ($25.00). ($25.00), even when more than one child less than
16 years of age was not properly secured in a restraint system.
Conviction of an infraction under this section has no consequence other than
payment of a penalty. No driver charged under this section for
failure to have a child under four five years of age properly
secured in a restraint system shall be convicted if he produces at the time of
his trial proof satisfactory to the court that he has subsequently acquired an
approved child passenger restraint system."
Section 8. This act becomes effective October 1, 1999. G.S. 20-137.1(a1), as enacted in Section 6 of this act does not apply to persons who reach the age of four years old before October 1, 1999.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 9th day of June, 1999.
s/ Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate
s/ James B. Black
Speaker of the House of Representatives
s/ James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor
Approved 9:53 a.m. this 17th day of June, 1999