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Kentucky driving lesson · Before You Drive

Safety belts

A 3-minute lesson from the Kentucky course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.

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Read time
3 minutes
Course unit
Before You Drive
Checkpoint questions
5
Source pages
35, 36

Safety belts keep you from being thrown from the vehicle in a crash or rollover, hold you in your seat during sudden stops and turns, and help you keep control. Staying inside the vehicle makes your chance of surviving a crash five times greater.

Know the rule

No one may drive a vehicle manufactured after 1981 on Kentucky public roads unless the driver and all passengers wear properly adjusted and fastened seat belts—or a child is secured in an approved child restraint.

Handbook p. 35 ↗
After 1981

Vehicles manufactured after this year are covered by the belt law

Handbook p. 35 ↗

Know the rule

Kentucky's seat belt law is primary: officers can stop you just for not wearing a belt. It's illegal to drive or ride as a passenger unbelted.

Handbook p. 36 ↗
5 times

How much greater your chance of surviving a crash is if you stay inside the vehicle

Handbook p. 36 ↗

Know the rule

In a frontal crash your body keeps moving toward the wheel or dashboard. Unbelted at 55 mph, you'd hit the steering wheel at 55 mph.

Handbook p. 36 ↗

Wear it correctly:

  • Shoulder harness across the shoulder and chest, with little or no slack
  • Never under the arm or behind the back—that can cause serious internal injuries
  • Lap belt snug and low across your hips, or you could slide out in a crash
Handbook p. 36 ↗

Know the rule

Wear safety belts even if the vehicle has air bags.

Handbook p. 36 ↗

Put it into practice

Your friend in the back seat says belts are only for the front. Wrong: Kentucky requires the driver and all passengers to be belted, and an officer can pull you over for that alone.

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.

Kentucky's seat belt law applies to vehicles manufactured after:
  1. 1966
  2. 1990
  3. 1981
  4. 2000

Answer: 1981

The law requires belts to be worn in vehicles manufactured after 1981.

Handbook p. 35 ↗
Kentucky's seat belt law is a primary law, which means:
  1. You can only be cited if stopped for another reason first
  2. It only applies on interstates
  3. It only applies to front-seat passengers
  4. Officers can stop you for a belt violation alone

Answer: Officers can stop you for a belt violation alone

A primary law lets officers stop drivers solely for not wearing a seat belt, unlike a secondary law.

Handbook p. 36 ↗
Your chances of surviving a crash are how many times greater if you stay inside the vehicle, secured by a seat belt?
  1. Ten times greater
  2. Two times greater
  3. Five times greater
  4. Three times greater

Answer: Five times greater

The manual states your chances of surviving a crash are five times greater if you remain inside the protection of your vehicle.

Handbook p. 36 ↗
A shoulder harness worn under the arm or behind the back is dangerous because it:
  1. Can keep the air bag from deploying
  2. Is illegal only for passengers, not drivers
  3. Makes the belt lock during normal braking
  4. Can cause serious internal injuries

Answer: Can cause serious internal injuries

Wearing the shoulder harness incorrectly, such as under the arm, could cause serious internal injuries in a crash.

Handbook p. 36 ↗
Safety belts are unnecessary in vehicles equipped with air bags.
  1. True
  2. False

Answer: False

Safety belts should be worn even in air bag-equipped vehicles; the two work together.

Handbook p. 36 ↗
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