Child Seats

189.125 Requirements of use of seat belts and child restraint systems -- Exceptions.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, "motor vehicle" as used in this section
means every vehicle designed to carry ten (10) or fewer passengers and used for the
transportation of persons, but the term does not include:
(a) Motorcycles;
(b) Motor driven cycles; or
(c) Farm trucks registered for agricultural use only and having a gross weight of
one (1) ton or more.
(2) No person shall sell any new passenger vehicle in this state nor shall any person
make application for registering a new passenger vehicle in this state unless the
front or forward seat or seats have adequate anchors or attachments secured to the
floor and/or sides to the rear of the seat or seats to which seat belts may be secured.
(3) Any driver of a motor vehicle, when transporting a child of forty (40) inches in
height or less in a motor vehicle operated on the roadways, streets, and highways of
this state, shall have the child properly secured in a child restraint system of a type
meeting federal motor vehicle safety standards.
(4) As used in this section, "child restraint system" means any device manufactured to
transport children in a motor vehicle which conforms to all applicable federal motor
vehicle safety standards.
(5) Failure to wear a child passenger restraint shall not be considered as contributory
negligence, nor shall such failure to wear said passenger restraint system be
admissible as evidence in the trial of any civil action. Failure of any person to wear
a seat belt shall not constitute negligence per se.
(6) No person shall operate a motor vehicle manufactured after 1965 on the public
roadways of this state unless the driver and all passengers are wearing a properly
adjusted and fastened seat belt, unless the passenger is a child who is secured as
required in subsection (3) of this section. The provisions of this subsection shall not
apply to:
(a) A person who has in his possession at the time of the conduct in question a
written statement from a physician or licensed chiropractor that he is unable,
for medical or physical reasons, to wear a seat belt; or
(b) A letter carrier of the United States postal service while engaged in the
performance of his duties.
(7) A peace officer shall not stop or seize a person nor issue a uniform citation for a
violation of subsection (6) of this section if the officer has no other cause to stop or
seize the person other than a violation of subsection (6) of this section.
(8) The provisions of subsections (6) and (7) of this section shall supersede any existing
local ordinance involving the use of seat belts. No ordinance contrary to subsections
(6) and (7) of this section may be enacted by any unit of local government.
Effective: July 15, 1994
History: Amended 1994 Ky. Acts ch. 39, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1994. -- Amended
1988 Ky. Acts ch. 232, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1988. -- Amended 1982 Ky. Acts
ch. 158, sec. 1, effective July 15, 1982. -- Created 1962 Ky. Acts ch. 76, sec. 1.

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