A 3-minute lesson from the Missouri course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Seat belts greatly reduce your chance of being hurt or killed in a crash. Air bags help, but only with a belt: they don't protect you in side, rear or rollover crashes, and a deploying air bag can seriously injure or kill someone who isn't properly restrained.
Know the rule
Wear the lap belt low and snug across the hips and the shoulder belt across the chest. Never put the shoulder belt under your arm or behind your back. With a two-part system, wear both.
Wear seat belts even if your vehicle has air bags. An air bag won't keep you behind the wheel if you're hit from the side or rear or the vehicle rolls over.
Children 12 and under should always ride properly restrained in a rear seat. Never put a rear-facing infant seat in the front seat of a vehicle with a front passenger air bag.
Missouri law requires the operator and front-seat occupants of all passenger vehicles to wear a properly adjusted and fastened seat belt. ALL passengers riding with an intermediate license holder must be properly restrained.
Your nephew is 6, weighs 50 pounds and is 4'1". He's 4 to 7, 40 to 79 pounds and under 4'9", so he must ride in a child restraint system or booster seat, and in the back seat since he's under 12.
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.
Children less than 4 years old, regardless of weight, must be secured how?
A seat belt, if over 40 pounds
In a child restraint system
A booster seat only
A booster seat, if over 30 pounds
Answer: In a child restraint system
Children less than four years old, regardless of weight, must be secured in an appropriate child passenger restraint system.