I. Independent). Child restraint laws require children to sit in approved children seats. Nebraska has the following rules for child safety seats. Children up to age six must ride correctly secured in a federally-approved child safety seat. This is a primary law. The secondary laws are children ages six to sixteen must ride secured in a safety belt or child safety seat and if the driver holds a provisional operators permit or a school permit, all passengers must be buckled up. Drivers and front seat passengers must be buckled up. A violation of this is a $25 fine plus court costs (www.nsp.state.ne.us). "Child passenger safety laws should cover every child ( up to age 16), in every seating position, in every passenger vehicle" (cartipsandmore.com).
In 1998, 2,009 children up to the age 15 died and 320,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes. Nearly six out of every ten children who died were unbelted (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Many Nebraskan cities have cites where they can show you how to properly use a child restraint seat, such as the local Fire Department.
There is a certain way to use your seatbelt. First, sit up tall. Then put the seat belt low across your lap. Wear the belt centered over your shoulder. Finally, make sure the belt is snug. There are a couple of don'ts to wearing seatbelts. Never wear the seatbelt across your stomach because you could harm your internal organs. Never wear the seat belt under your arm. It could injure your ribs. There should be about two finger's widths of slack to have the belts work most effectively. "Safety belts only work when you use them" (nebraskatransportation.org).
Seat belts became a standard feature in cars in 1964. In 1967, front seatbelts became mandatory in all cars except for the ones built before 1967 and shoulder belts became mandatory in 1968 (lemurzone.com).
Why do people choose not to wear seat belts? Some reasons may be that people don't like it when other people tell them what to do.
