Seat Belt Laws in North Carolina

According to the CDC, most of the drivers and passengers killed in car accidents are unrestrained.

If a driver wears a seat belt, they can lower the risk of death in a crash by nearly 45 percent and the risk of severe injury by approximately 50 percent. Most of the time, people in the car are ejected from their seats during a crash and hit the windshield, dashboard, and steering wheel. All this leads to injuries. Therefore, wearing a seat belt can save you and the people riding with you from severe injuries and possible fatalities.

Knowing the importance and benefits of seat belts, a strict and comprehensive seat belt law in North Carolina guides drivers and passengers on how and when to use them for maximum protection.

Here’s a detailed explanation of the law and how it is designed to save lives and lower the rate of injuries and fatalities in car accidents. Take a look:

All Car Occupants Must Buckle Up

In North Carolina, each vehicle occupant must wear a seat belt under NCGS § 20-135.2A when the vehicle is in forward motion on the street or a highway. When it was first introduced in 1985, seat belt use was only mandatory for the driver and the front-seat passenger.

However, a decade ago, the seat belt usage law in North Carolina was amended and now requires all occupants in the vehicle to buckle up, including rear-seat passengers.

There is a separate statute, NCGS § 20-137.1, which requires drivers to be vigilant and careful when riding with passengers under 16 years of age. These passengers must be secured in a restraint system designed for children or a seat belt.

Exemptions

Just like most of the laws, there are exceptions to the seat belt laws too. Thus, the exceptions to the mandatory North Carolina seat belt law are:

  • Non-commercial vehicle drivers or occupants with physical or medical conditions that prevent them from being restrained by a seat belt
  • Newspaper delivery individuals while they are delivering newspapers
  • Rural letter carriers
  • Drivers or passengers who have to stop often and leave their vehicles if the vehicle speed between stops is 20mph or less
  • Property-carrying automobiles that are used in the intrastate commerce for agricultural purpose
  • Automobiles that aren’t required to have seat belts as per the federal law
  • Occupants of a motor home apart from the driver and the passengers seated in the front
  • Recycling or residential garbage truck passengers when the truck is in motion for collection rounds

Vehicles Covered

The seat belt law applies to all passenger vehicles with a capacity of <11 occupants as required by federal standards. These vehicles are manufactured after 1967, and vans and light trucks made after the year 1971.

Restraint Requirements

When you wear a seat belt, it must be worn properly as provided for the seating position. This means the lap and shoulder belt should be adequately worn even if the position is equipped with an automatic shoulder belt or airbag. Please note that keeping the shoulder belt under the arm or behind your back is not allowed.

Understanding the Responsibility and Penalties

If you’re a driver riding with children under 16, then per the seat belt law in North Carolina, you will be held responsible for them and yourself. So, you must make sure that everyone in the vehicle is properly restrained. However, passengers above sixteen are accountable for their actions.

If you fail to abide by the law, then you can be penalized. As per state law, the driver and front-seat passengers older than 15 will have to pay a penalty of $25 and court costs of $75. Also, your driver’s license and insurance points will be assessed. Moreover, front-seat passengers who fail to comply with the law may be issued citations to ensure compliance with § 20-135.2A.

Similarly, rear seat occupants older than age 15 will have to pay a penalty of $10. However, there are no court costs.

When it comes to understanding the seat belt law in North Carolina, law enforcement officers must also understand the requirement before they act on it, such as they can’t stop a motor vehicle if the rear seat passenger fails to buckle up. This is because NCGS § 20-135.2A(d1) categorizes the failure of the rear passenger to buckle up as a secondary violation, and for this, a vehicle should not be stopped.

However, if the officer lawfully stops a car for some other reason and in the process they learn about a rear seat belt violation, the officer can cite the motor vehicle driver for this offense. Did you know that in 2015 approximately 12,847 charges were issued for unbuckled backseat passengers and 13,808 for front-seat passengers? However, the charges for both these categories were outnumbered by unbuckled drivers, who were approximately 108,320.

Contact us for Legal Assistance

Contact us today if you have been in an accident despite following the seat belt law and injured due to someone else’s negligence. At the Law Office of Jason E. Taylor P.C., our experienced auto accident lawyer in North Carolina can review your case and provide you with legal assistance. We can fight for you to get justice and maximum compensation for injuries and losses incurred.

Let us evaluate your case. Contact us today for a free consultation.

We can help you pursue the compensation that you need to seek proper medical treatment and gain financial security to cope with the losses caused by a vehicle accident.

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Notice of Data Security Event
Updated March 28, 2025

The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor is providing notice of an event that may affect certain individuals’ information. Although we have no indication of identity theft or fraud in relation to this event, we are providing information about the event, our response, and additional measures individuals can take to help protect their information, should they feel it appropriate to do so.

What Happened? On October 28, 2024, The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor identified suspicious activity related to our email system. We quickly took steps to investigate and determined that an unknown actor may have accessed certain emails within our email system between August 7 and November 7, 2024. We then conducted a comprehensive review of the potentially affected emails and attachments to determine what information was contained therein and to whom the information related, which was completed on February 25, 2025. Unfortunately, we were unable to verify the addresses of certain affected individuals, so we are providing this notice to ensure potentially affected individuals receive information about the event.

What Information Was Involved? The information affected may include individuals’ Social Security number, driver’s license and state ID information, financial account number, and health information.

What We Are Doing. We are notifying individuals about this matter and providing guidance about free resources that are available to assist with monitoring relevant accounts, credit reports, and how to place a fraud alert or security freeze on one’s credit file. Further, as with our typical security practices, we will continue to evaluate our policies, procedures, staff training, and technical security measures to reduce the likelihood of an event like this reoccurring.

What Individuals Can Do. We encourage you to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by reviewing your account statements and monitoring your free credit reports for suspicious activity and to detect errors. We also recommend you review the below “Steps Individuals Can Take To Help Protect Personal Information”.

For More Information. If individuals have questions about this matter, we have a dedicated assistance line with agents ready to answer their questions. Please contact our toll-free dedicated assistance line at 1-800-939-4170, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. through 9 p.m., excluding holidays. You may also write to us at The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor, Attn: Compliance, P.O. Box 2688, Hickory, NC 28603.

Sincerely,

The Law Offices of Jason E. Taylor

STEPS INDIVIDUALS CAN TAKE TO HELP PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION

Monitor Your Accounts

Under U.S. law, a consumer is entitled to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit reporting bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. To order a free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call, toll-free, 1-877-322-8228. Consumers may also directly contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below to request a free copy of their credit report.

Consumers have the right to place an initial or extended “fraud alert” on a credit file at no cost. An initial fraud alert is a 1-year alert that is placed on a consumer’s credit file. Upon seeing a fraud alert display on a consumer’s credit file, a business is required to take steps to verify the consumer’s identity before extending new credit. If consumers are the victim of identity theft, they are entitled to an extended fraud alert, which is a fraud alert lasting seven years. Should consumers wish to place a fraud alert, please contact any of the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below.

As an alternative to a fraud alert, consumers have the right to place a “credit freeze” on a credit report, which will prohibit a credit bureau from releasing information in the credit report without the consumer’s express authorization. The credit freeze is designed to prevent credit, loans, and services from being approved in a consumer’s name without consent. However, consumers should be aware that using a credit freeze to take control over who gets access to the personal and financial information in their credit report may delay, interfere with, or prohibit the timely approval of any subsequent request or application they make regarding a new loan, credit, mortgage, or any other account involving the extension of credit. Pursuant to federal law, consumers cannot be charged to place or lift a credit freeze on their credit report. To request a credit freeze, individuals may need to provide some or all of the following information:

1. Full name (including middle initial as well as Jr., Sr., II, III, etc.);
2. Social Security number;
3. Date of birth;
4. Addresses for the prior two to five years;
5. Proof of current address, such as a current utility bill or telephone bill;
6. A legible photocopy of a government-issued identification card (state driver’s license or ID card, etc.); and
7. A copy of either the police report, investigative report, or complaint to a law enforcement agency concerning identity theft if they are a victim of identity theft.

Should consumers wish to place a credit freeze or fraud alert, please contact the three major credit reporting bureaus listed below:

Equifax Experian TransUnion
https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/ https://www.experian.com/help/

https://www.transunion.com/credit-help
1-888-298-0045 1-888-397-3742 1-800-916-8800
Equifax Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 105069 Atlanta, GA 30348-5069 Experian Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Fraud Alert, P.O. Box 2000, Chester, PA 19016
Equifax Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 105788 Atlanta, GA 30348-5788 Experian Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 9554, Allen, TX 75013 TransUnion Credit Freeze, P.O. Box 160, Woodlyn, PA 19094

Additional Information

Consumers may further educate themselves regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, credit freezes, and the steps they can take to protect their personal information by contacting the consumer reporting bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission, or their state attorney general. The Federal Trade Commission may be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20580; www.identitytheft.gov; 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338); and TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The Federal Trade Commission also encourages those who discover that their information has been misused to file a complaint with them. Consumers can obtain further information on how to file such a complaint by way of the contact information listed above. Consumers have the right to file a police report if they ever experience identity theft or fraud. Please note that in order to file a report with law enforcement for identity theft, consumers will likely need to provide some proof that they have been a victim. Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement and the relevant state attorney general. This notice has not been delayed by law enforcement.

For District of Columbia residents, the District of Columbia Attorney General may be contacted at: 400 6th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001; 1-202-442-9828; and oag.dc.gov.

For Maryland residents, the Maryland Attorney General may be contacted at: 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202; 1-410-576-6300 or 1-888-743-0023; and https://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/.

For New Mexico residents, consumers have rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, such as the right to be told if information in their credit file has been used against them, the right to know what is in their credit file, the right to ask for their credit score, and the right to dispute incomplete or inaccurate information. Further, pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the consumer reporting bureaus must correct or delete inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable information; consumer reporting agencies may not report outdated negative information; access to consumers’ files is limited; consumers must give consent for credit reports to be provided to employers; consumers may limit “prescreened” offers of credit and insurance based on information in their credit report; and consumers may seek damages from violators. Consumers may have additional rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act not summarized here. Identity theft victims and active-duty military personnel have specific additional rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act. We encourage consumers to review their rights pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act by visiting www.consumerfinance.gov/f/201504_cfpb_summary_your-rights-under-fcra.pdf, or by writing Consumer Response Center, Room 130-A, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20580.

For New York residents, the New York Attorney General may be contacted at: Office of the Attorney General, The Capitol, Albany, NY 12224-0341; 1-800-771-7755; or https://ag.ny.gov.

For North Carolina residents, the North Carolina Attorney General may be contacted at: 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; 1-877-566-7226 or 1-919-716-6000; and www.ncdoj.gov.

For Rhode Island residents, the Rhode Island Attorney General may be reached at: 150 South Main Street, Providence, RI 02903; 1-401-274-4400; and www.riag.ri.gov. Under Rhode Island law, individuals have the right to obtain any police report filed in regard to this event.
STEPS INDIVIDUALS CAN TAKE TO HELP PROTECT A MINOR DEPENDENT’S PERSONAL INFORMATION

Typically, credit reporting agencies do not have a credit report in a minor’s name. To find out if a minor has a credit report or to request a manual search for a minor’s Social Security number each credit bureau has its own process. To learn more about these processes or request these services, consumers may contact the credit bureaus by phone, writing, or online:
Equifax Experian TransUnion
https://www.equifax.com/personal/help/article-list/-/h/a/request-child-credit-report/
https://www.experian.com/help/minor-request.html
https://www.transunion.com/fraud-victim-resources/child-identity-theft

1-800-685-1111 1-888-397-3742 1-800-916-8800
P.O. Box 105788
Atlanta, GA 30348-5788 P.O. Box 9554
Allen, TX 75013 P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016

To request information about the existence of a credit file in a minor’s name, search for a minor’s Social Security number, place a security freeze or fraud alert on a minor’s credit report (if one exists), or request a copy of a minor’s credit report consumers may be required to provide the following information:
● A copy of their driver’s license or another government issued identification card, such as a state identification card, etc.;
● Proof of address, such as a copy of a bank statement, utility bill, insurance statement, etc.;
● A copy of the minor’s birth certificate;
● A copy of the minor’s Social Security card;
● The minor’s full name, including middle initial and generation, such as JR, SR, II, III, etc.;
● The minor’s date of birth; and
● The minor’s previous addresses for the past two years.

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