• Provide enough safety belts for each person traveling in your vehicle. Each person needs their own safety belt. Make sure all safety belts are working properly.
• Show you care. Ask passengers in the front and rear seats to use their safety belts. Most people will gladly buckle up if the driver asks them to.
• Do not start your car until all safety belts are fastened.
• Adjust your safety belt so it fits snugly over your hip bones. It should cross your lap low on the hips, not high across your stomach.
• A shoulder belt should go over your shoulder and across your body diagonally. It should never be worn under your arm.

In Illinois, the law states that each driver and passenger of a motor vehicle must wear a properly adjusted and fastened seat safety belt.

Provides that whenever a person is transporting a child under age 8, the person is responsible for properly securing the child in an appropriate child restraint system, which includes a booster seat. Every person, when transporting a child 8 years of age or older, but under age 16, is responsible for properly securing that child in a seat belt. If the vehicle used to transport children under eight years of age is equipped with lap belts only in the back seat and the child weighs more than 40 pounds, the child may be transported in the back seat wearing a lap belt only. If a combination lap and shoulder belt is available, the child must be secured in a booster seat.

The Illinois Graduated Licensing System requires all occupants must wear safety belts. Any person under the age of 18 who receives a graduated driver’s license, for the first twelve months of the license or until the person reaches the age of 18, whichever occurs sooner; the person may not drive with more than one person in the vehicle who is under the age of 20 unless they are siblings, children, step-siblings, and step children of the driver.

Illinois Graduated Driver License

Also, no person may operate any 1965 or later model vehicle unless the front seats are equipped with two sets of safety belts. A child must be protected under these Child Passenger Protection Act guidelines:

• under the age of eight, secure in a child safety seat.
• eight years of age or more, but less than 16 must be secured in a seat belt or child safety seat.
• all occupants must be secured by a safety belt while in the vehicle.

Any child restraint system sold at the many department and discount stores are approved seats that meet the U.S. Department of Transportation Standards. Make sure to send in the seat registration card so the manufacture can reach you in case of a recall. Avoid buying seats at second hand shops and garage sales as you do not know the history of the seat.

"Approved child restraint systems" refers to any device which meets the standards of the United States Department of Transportation.

• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration