A bill to require backseat passengers under 16 to wear a seat belt passed in the Senate earlier this week.
Senate Bill 681 would require passengers 16 and younger to wear a “properly fastened seat belt,” in the backseat of a car.
Currently, Oklahoma state law requires children 8 or younger to do so.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that in 2020, nearly 60% of backseat passengers who were killed in a crash were unbuckled.
This isn’t the first time a bill has been making the rounds to change Oklahoma’s seatbelt laws. The two authors of the bill — Sen. Roland Pederson and Rep. Ross Ford — worked together on a similar measure in 2020 which would have required those 17 and younger to wear a seat belt. But, ultimately, it failed.
“Oklahoma is the only state that does not require children over the age of 8 to wear seat belts in the backseat,” Pederson said in a written statement. "It is time for us to make this change and put protections in place for children in our state."
The bill now moves onto the House for consideration.
