Advocates has voiced support to leadership of the Virginia Senate Committee on Transportation for House Bill 2475. The proposed legislation would require rear seat occupants to wear a seat belt. In addition, we urge upgrading the bill to primary enforcement for seat belts in both front and rear seats. States with primary enforcement laws have higher seat belt use rates.
In 2023, only 73.2 percent of Virginians buckled up, the lowest rate of any state. Comparatively, the national average for seat belt use was 91.9 percent, and in the District of Columbia, which has a primary enforcement all-occupant law, it was 94.6 percent. Moreover, Virginia is going in the wrong direction. In 2019, 85.4 percent of Virginians were restrained by seat belts, but since the pandemic that number has decreased all three years for which data is available. Read the full letter here.