HB 54 – AS INTRODUCED
2005 SESSION
03/01
HOUSE BILL 54
AN ACT relative to responsibility for child passenger restraints.
SPONSORS: Rep. Knowles, Straf 6; Rep. Tholl, Coos 2; Rep. Welch, Rock 8; Sen. Kenney, Dist 3; Sen. Gallus, Dist 1; Sen. Estabrook, Dist 21
This bill changes from the driver to the passenger the responsibility for compliance by 16 and 17-year-olds with the child passenger restraint laws.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
05-0080
03/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Five
AN ACT relative to responsibility for child passenger restraints.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Child Passenger Restraints Required; Persons 16 or 17 Years of Age. Amend RSA 265:107-a, I-III to read as follows:
I. No person shall drive a motor vehicle on any way while carrying as a passenger a person less than [18] 16 years of age unless such person is wearing a seat or safety belt which is properly adjusted and fastened. If the passenger is less than 6 years of age and is less than 55 inches in height, the passenger shall be properly fastened and secured by a child passenger restraint which is in accordance with the safety standards approved by the United States Department of Transportation in 49 C.F.R. section 571.213. Except as provided in paragraph II, no person shall drive a motor vehicle on any way while carrying as a passenger a person less than 18 years of age unless the motor vehicle was designed for and equipped with the passenger restraints specified above.
I-a. No person who is less than 18 years of age shall drive a motor vehicle on any way unless such person is wearing a seat or safety belt which is properly adjusted and fastened.
I-b. No person who is 16 or 17 years of age shall ride as a passenger in a motor vehicle unless such person is wearing a seat or safety belt which is properly adjusted and fastened.
II. A person shall not be guilty of a violation of this section if the motor vehicle [the person is driving] is regularly used to transport passengers for hire, is a school bus weighing more than 10,000 pounds or is a school bus weighing less than 10,000 pounds that was manufactured without safety belts, or there is an individual education plan statement contraindicating the use of restraints, is a vehicle manufactured before 1968, is a motorcycle as defined in RSA 259:63, is an antique motor [car] vehicle or motorcycle as defined in RSA 259:4, or is being operated in a parade authorized by law or ordinance, provided that the parade vehicle is traveling at a speed of no more than 10 miles per hour.
III. Any [driver] person who violates the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a violation, and shall be subject to the following fines:
(a) $25 for a first offense.
(b) $50 for a second or subsequent offense.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2006.