Bill Text - HB705 (2005)

Relative to passenger restraints.


Revision: Jan. 21, 2010, midnight

HB 705 – AS INTRODUCED

2005 SESSION

05-0546

03/10

HOUSE BILL 705

AN ACT relative to passenger restraints.

SPONSORS: Rep. Pilliod, Belk 5; Rep. Emerson, Ches 7; Rep. Osborne, Merr 12; Sen. Gottesman, Dist 12; Sen. Roberge, Dist 9

COMMITTEE: Transportation

ANALYSIS

This bill requires motor vehicle drivers and passengers 18 years of age and older to wear passenger restraints. The prohibitions established by this bill may only be enforced as a secondary offense.

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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

05-0546

03/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Five

AN ACT relative to passenger restraints.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Passenger Restraints Required. Amend the section heading of RSA 265:107-a to read as follows:

265:107-a [Child] Passenger Restraints Required.

2 Passenger Restraints Required. Amend RSA 265:107-a, I-II 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 years of age] unless such [person] passenger 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.

II. A person shall not be guilty of a violation of this section if the person is in the process of delivering mail or newspapers or 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 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.

3 New Paragraph; Passenger Restraints; Secondary Offense. Amend RSA 265:107-a by inserting after paragraph VI the following new paragraph:

VII. Enforcement of this section by law enforcement agencies shall be accomplished only as a secondary action when a driver of a motor vehicle has been stopped for a violation or some other offense; provided, however, that a motor vehicle may be stopped for failure to comply with this section if the seat belt violation is for a person under 18 years of age.

4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2006.