GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 1999

SENATE BILL 65
RATIFIED BILL

AN ACT TO ENHANCE MOTOR VEHICLE OCCUPANT RESTRAINT SAFETY.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 20-135.2A(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Each front seat occupant who is 16 years of age or older and each driver of a passenger motor vehicle manufactured with seat belts shall have a seat belt properly fastened about his or her body at all times when the vehicle is in forward motion on a street or highway in this State.   "
Section 2.  G.S. 20-135.2A(e) reads as rewritten:
"(e)	Any driver or passenger who fails to wear a seat belt as required by this section shall have committed an infraction and shall pay a penalty of twenty-five dollars ($25.00).  Conviction of an infraction under this section has no consequence other than payment of a penalty.  A person found responsible for a violation of this section may not be assessed court costs."
Section 3.  G.S. 20-135.2A(h) is repealed.
Section 4.  G.S. 20-135.2B(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c)	Any person violating this section shall have committed an infraction and shall pay a penalty of twenty-five dollars ($25.00). Conviction of an infraction under this section has no consequence other than payment of a penalty.  A person found responsible for a violation of this section may not be assessed court costs."
Section 5.  Section 3 of Chapter 672 of the 1993 Session Laws is repealed.
Section 6.  G.S. 20-137.1(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Every driver who is transporting one or more passengers of less than 16 years of age shall have all such passengers properly secured in a child passenger restraint system or seat belt which meets federal standards applicable at the time of its manufacture.  
(a1)	A child less than five years of age and less than 40 pounds in weight shall be properly secured in a weight-appropriate child passenger restraint system.  In vehicles equipped with an active passenger-side front air bag, if the vehicle has a rear seat, a child less than five years of age and less than 40 pounds in weight shall be properly secured in a rear seat, unless the child restraint system is designed for use with air bags."
Section 7.  G.S. 20-137.1(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c)	Any driver found responsible for a violation of this section may be punished by a penalty not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25.00), even when more than one child less than 16 years of age was not properly secured in a restraint system.  Conviction of an infraction under this section has no consequence other than payment of a penalty.  No driver charged under this section for failure to have a child under five years of age properly secured in a restraint system shall be convicted if he produces at the time of his trial proof satisfactory to the court that he has subsequently acquired an approved child passenger restraint system."
Section 8.  This act becomes effective October 1, 1999.  G.S. 20-137.1(a1), as enacted in Section 6 of this act does not apply to persons who reach the age of four years old before October 1, 1999.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 9th day of June, 1999.

	─────────────────── 
	Dennis A. Wicker
	President of the Senate

	─────────────────── 
	James B. Black
	Speaker of the House of Representatives

	─────────────────── 
	James B. Hunt, Jr.
	Governor

Approved 	.m. this 	 day of 	, 19