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Three to four seconds is how long it takes for you to buckle up. One of the safest decisions drivers and passengers can make is choosing to wear their seatbelts. In 2024, Colorado reported an 88.1% usage rate, which is below the national average of 92%. Our goal is to increase awareness and usage of seatbelts across Colorado, especially among teenagers.
It is important to understand the potentially fatal consequences of not wearing a seatbelt, know the law and learn what you can do to ensure you and your family are properly buckled up every time.
Seatbelt Fast Facts
Buckling up is the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself in a crash. Buckling up helps keep you safe and secure inside your vehicle, whereas not buckling up can result in being totally ejected from the vehicle in a crash, which is almost always deadly. Occupants ejected from vehicles are 90 times more likely to be killed in the event of a crash. The statistics don't lie:
- Teenagers have the lowest seat belt use than any other age group. In 2022, 58% of 13 and 14-year-old passenger vehicle occupants killed in crashes were known to be unrestrained.
- Being properly restrained reduces your risk of injury by 50% and death by up to 65%.
- Airbags are designed to work with seat belts, not replace them. Airbags are not enough to protect you; in fact, the force of an airbag can seriously injure or even kill you if you’re not buckled up.
- NHTSA Estimates that using lap and shoulder seat belts reduces the risk of:
- Front seat passenger car occupant deaths by 45%
- Front seat passenger car occupant moderate to critical injuries by 50%
- Front seat light truck occupant deaths by 60%
- Front seat light truck occupant moderate to critical injuries by 65%
Colorado Seatbelt Laws
Adults
Colorado law requires the driver and every front-seat passenger of a vehicle to wear a seat belt. Colorado has a secondary enforcement law for adult drivers and front-seat passengers. Drivers can be ticketed for violating the seat belt law if they are stopped for another traffic violation.
Teens
Colorado’s Graduated Drivers Licensing (GDL) law requires all drivers under 18 and their passengers, regardless of age, to wear seat belts. This is a primary enforcement, meaning teens can be pulled over simply for not wearing a seat belt or having passengers without seat belts.
Children
Colorado's Child Passenger Safety law is a primary enforcement, meaning the driver can be stopped and ticketed if an officer sees an unrestrained or improperly restrained child under the age of 16 in the vehicle.