T.C.A. § 55-9-602 is the Child Restraint law and T.C.A. § 55-9-603 is the Seat Belt law. Both statutes require the fines collected for these violations be forwarded to the Tennessee Department of Safety.

Child Restraint Violations

The Child Restraint law applies to children ages infant to age 12 but the specific requirements and penalties vary by age.

• Children under 1 year old, must be in a child passenger restraint system in a rear facing position. T.C.A. § 55-9-602(a)(1).
• Children ages 1-3 years old must be in a child restraint system facing in a forward position. T.C.A. § 55-9-602(a)(2).
• Children ages 4-8 and measuring less than 4’9” in height must be in a booster seat. T.C.A. § 55-9-602(a)(3).
• Children ages 9-12 and measuring less than 4’9” in height must also be in a booster seat. T.C.A. § 55-9-602(g).

Penalties depend on the age of the child. For infants to age 8, the statute allows for each unrestrained child is a separate violation. This means each unrestrained child is a separate fine, with regular court costs and litigation taxes.

However, for children ages 9-12 and less than 4’9”, T.C.A. § 55-9-602(g) says that for these specific violations, only one citation can be issued with no court costs and no litigation taxes.

For example, if we have a van with three unrestrained children, an infant, a 2 year old, and a 5 year old, there would be three fines, one court costs, and one litigation tax.

If there was a van with six unrestrained 11-year-olds going to soccer practice and they are all under 4’9”, T.C.A. § 55-9-602(g)(1)(a)(2) and (3) says the driver is to be given only one citation of $50, no court costs and no litigation taxes.

Lastly, if there was a van with six unrestrained children, ages infant, age 2, age 5, and three 11-year-olds, there would be four violations because each child 8 and under is a separate violation. You take the three 11-year-olds and combine them as one violation, so the citation will cite four violations with regular court costs and litigation taxes. While the booster seat violations for 9-12 year-olds do not assess a court costs or litigation taxes, the mere presence of the 9-12 year-olds do not remove the penalty for the violations for ages infant to age 8.

Seat Belt Violations

The seat belt laws apply to both drivers and passengers, ages four and older. The child restraint law discussed above applies to children younger than four.

• The violator receives the citation;
• If the violator is age 16 or 17, the fine is $30 regardless of how many times the driver is convicted of the seatbelt law. (Note: The county juvenile judge must waive jurisdiction for juvenile traffic offenders for the city court to hear seatbelt offenses for this age group);
• If the violator is 18 years of age or older, the fine is $30 for the first offense and $50 for subsequent offenses;
• The court clerk is authorized to retain $5 of any $30 or $50 fine.
• The court cannot collect court costs for seatbelt violations. (Note: the $5 the city retains is not considered a court costs. Therefore the city should not send the $2 Municipal Training Education fee from this amount to the Department of Revenue).
• Fines for these seat belt violations must be sent to the Department of Safety pursuant to T.C.A. § 55-9-603(d)(1).