Z-839                 _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 4312

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Senators Conner, Goltz, Moore, Bluechel, Garrett, Patterson, Stratton, Guess and Zimmerman; by Washington Traffic Safety Commission request

Read first time 2/8/85 and referred to Committee on Transportation.

AN ACT Relating to motor vehicle safety restraints; amending RCW 46.61.687; creating new sections; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     This act shall be known and may be cited as the Washington Mandatory Safety Belt and Child Safety Seat Act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     The Washington state legislature recognizes and declares that, in accordance with statistical data maintained by the national highway safety administration and the Washington traffic safety commission:

          (1) There were twenty-eight thousand nine hundred twenty people killed, and approximately one hundred twenty thousand injured nationwide in passenger vehicles, cars, light trucks, and vans during 1983;

          (2) Highway safety research and traffic accident experience demonstrate unequivocally that use of safety belts and child safety seats would prevent approximately half of these deaths and injuries;

          (3) Despite an extensive and intensive  Washington state education and information program during 1983, ninety percent of all occupant fatalities and eighty-nine percent of all disabling injuries occurred to people who did not use safety belts or child safety seats;

          (4) The mandatory use of safety belts and child restraints would reduce these totals substantially.

        Sec. 3.  Section 2, chapter 215, Laws of 1983 and RCW 46.61.687 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) ((After December 31, 1983, the parent or legal guardian of a child less than five years old, when the parent or legal guardian is operating anywhere in the state his or her own motor vehicle registered under chapter 46.16 RCW, in which the child is a passenger, shall have the child properly secured in a manner approved by the state commission on equipment.  Even though a separate child passenger restraint device is considered the ideal method of protection, a properly adjusted and fastened, federally approved seat belt is deemed sufficient to meet the requirements of this section for children one through four years of age.

          (2) During the period from January 1, 1984, to July 1, 1984, a person violating subsection (1) of this section may be issued a written warning of the violation.  After July 1, 1984, a person violating subsection (1) of this section may be issued a notice of traffic infraction under chapter 46.63 RCW.  If the person to whom the notice was issued presents proof of acquisition of an approved child passenger restraint system within seven days to the jurisdiction issuing the notice, the jurisdiction shall dismiss the notice of traffic infraction.  If the person fails to  present proof of acquisition within the time required, he or she is subject to a penalty assessment of not less than thirty dollars.

          (3))) No person may operate a motor vehicle in this state unless all passengers less than two years of age are secured in a specially designed, detachable or removable seat that meets the safety standards set forth in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213, or, in the case of any other passenger, he or she is secured by a safety belt that meets the safety standards set forth in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 209.

(2) No person may operate a motor vehicle in this state unless that person is secured by a safety belt that meets the safety standards set forth in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 209.

(3) For the purpose of this section the term "motor vehicle" applies to all vehicles defined in RCW 46.04.310 and 46.04.382.

(4) Violation of this section is a traffic infraction.

(5) Failure to comply with the requirements of this section shall not constitute negligence ((by a parent or legal guardian)); nor shall failure to use a child restraint system be admissible as evidence of negligence in any civil action.

(6) This section does not apply to a passenger or operator with a physically disabling condition whose physical disability would prevent appropriate occupant security in a safety seat or safety belt required by this section if that condition is duly certified by a physician stating the nature of the handicap, as well as the reason that such restraint is inappropriate.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4.     If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.