Kansas driving lesson · Kansas Rules of the Road: Speed & Basic Laws
Seatbelts and child restraints
A 3-minute lesson from the Kansas course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Seatbelts are the single best protection in a crash. Kansas requires every occupant to be restrained, lets police stop you for a belt violation alone, and makes the driver responsible for buckling up children correctly.
Know the rule
Kansas law requires all occupants of passenger vehicles to use safety restraints (K.S.A. 8-2501). It is illegal to drive or ride in the front seat without a safety belt (K.S.A. 8-2503).
An officer who sees an unbelted adult in a front seat, or an unrestrained child anywhere in the vehicle, can stop the vehicle for that violation alone.
Avoid placing a rear-facing infant seat in an airbag-equipped seat. If you must, move that seat as far back as possible. The safest spot for a safety seat is the middle of the back seat.
You're driving your 6-year-old nephew, who is 4'5" and 60 pounds. He is under 4'9" and under 80 pounds, so he needs a child safety seat or booster seat, and at under 14 he rides in the back seat.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
In Kansas, all children under age 4 must be restrained in what kind of seat?
A federally approved child safety seat
A regular seatbelt only
A federally approved forward-facing booster seat
Any booster seat
Answer: A federally approved child safety seat
All children under 4 must ride in a federally approved child safety seat.
Kansas law requires all children under what age to be secured in the rear seat while the vehicle is in motion?
8
14
10
16
Answer: 14
Page 27 states the law requires all children under age 14 to be secured in the rear seat (p.28 separately advises that children 12 and under sit in back).
Kansas made seatbelt use a 'Primary Violation.' What does this mean for enforcement?
Only the driver, not passengers, can trigger a stop
An officer can stop a vehicle solely because an occupant is unrestrained
An officer can only cite a seatbelt violation after stopping for another reason
Seatbelt violations only carry a warning, never a ticket
Answer: An officer can stop a vehicle solely because an occupant is unrestrained
As a Primary Violation, an unrestrained adult in the front seat or unrestrained child anywhere allows an officer to stop the vehicle for that reason alone.