GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

S	3 

SENATE BILL 1467*
Judiciary II Committee Substitute Adopted 6/22/94
Judiciary II Committee Substitute No. 2 Adopted 6/28/94

Short Title:  Strengthen Child Restraint Law.	(Public)
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Sponsors:
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Referred to: 
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May 25, 1994

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO STRENGTHEN THE REQUIREMENTS TO HAVE A CHILD IN A RESTRAINT SYSTEM WHILE OPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 20-137.1 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-137.1.  Child restraint systems required.
(a)	Every driver who is transporting a child of less than five years of age and whose weight is under 50 pounds shall have the child properly secured in a child passenger restraint system (car safety seat) which meets federal standards applicable at the time of its manufacture.  Every driver who is transporting a child of less than 16 years of age, when the child:
(1)	Is five years of age or older; or
(2)	Weighs 50 pounds or more
shall have the child properly secured in either a child passenger restraint system (car safety seat) which meets federal standards applicable at the time of its manufacture or a seat safety belt which meets the federal standard applicable at the time the motor vehicle in which the seat safety belt is installed was manufactured.  The provisions of this section shall apply to children being transported in the front and rear seats of a passenger motor vehicle manufactured with seat safety belts in compliance with  federal law or regulation.
(b)	The provisions of this section shall not apply: (i) to ambulances or other emergency vehicles; (ii) to the members of the driver's family if all seating positions equipped with child passenger restraint systems or seat belts are occupied by members of the driver's family secured by the child passenger restraint systems or seat belts; or (iii) to vehicles which are not required by federal law or regulation to be equipped with seat belts.
(c)	Any person convicted of violating this section may be punished by a fine not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25.00).  No driver charged under this section for failure to have a child under five years of age and whose weight is less than 50 pounds 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.
(d)	No driver license points or insurance points shall be assessed for a violation of this section; nor shall a violation constitute negligence per se or contributory negligence per se nor shall it be evidence of negligence or contributory negligence."
Sec. 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 1994.