Seatbelt Issues

Georgia has enacted laws requiring drivers, front-seat passengers, and children under four to wear seatbelts. O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76.

In many states, if you are injured in an accident but you were not wearing your seatbelt at the time of the collision, insurance companies and their defense lawyers will attempt to argue that you would not have been injured - either not at all or significantly less so - if you were properly buckled in. In making this argument, the defense seeks to prove that you were "comparatively negligent" in causing the injuries that were suffered during an accident. To use this defense, however, the other driver's insurance company must prove that your unbuckled seatbelt contributed to, or was a cause of your injuries.

Georgia courts will not admit evidence of failure to wear seatbelts in automobile accident cases. O.C.G.A. 40-8-76.1(d).