Seat Belt Use and Seat Belt Laws For Truckers

The need for seat belt use among professional truck drivers is not only required by law, but it is imperative for one’s safety.

When a driver and each passenger in a vehicle are not wearing a seat belt, there is the real risk of being ejected from the vehicle upon a sudden stop or a crash.

On this page, we will be covering both the need to wear seat belts and seat belt laws.

The First Law of Motion

Just as a review, this resource states:

Newton’s first law of motion – sometimes referred to as the law of inertia states that an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

Although the following video shows a crash involving a car, you can easily understand the applicability of not wearing a safety belt in a large truck:

According to The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS):

Lap and shoulder belts prevent ejection from the vehicle and keep people from colliding with the vehicle interior during a crash. They are also designed to manage forces on the body.

The following are resources that cover the use of seat belts in the USA:

Seat Belts For Truckers

Mike Simons, seated in the driver seat of a semi tractor trailer, is wearing a seat belt. This is a photo of professional truck driver Mike Simons.

Notice that the seat belt is orange to make it easy to recognize.

Seat Belt Laws and Regulations For Truckers

Let’s look at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations regarding seat belt use for truckers:

§ 392.16 Use of seat belts.

(a) Drivers. No driver shall operate a commercial motor vehicle, and a motor carrier shall not require or permit a driver to operate a commercial motor vehicle, that has a seat belt assembly installed at the driver’s seat unless the driver is properly restrained by the seat belt assembly.

References are:

Even passengers in large trucks have to buckle up!

§ 392.16 Use of seat belts.

(b) Passengers. No driver shall operate a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle, and a motor carrier shall not require or permit a driver to operate a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle, that has seat belt assemblies installed at the seats for other occupants of the vehicle unless all other occupants are properly restrained by such seat belt assemblies.

A reference for this is here:

Passengers in Large Commercial Trucks Now Required to Wear Seat Belts | FMCSA

Vicki Simons, seated in the passenger seat of a semi tractor trailer, is wearing a seat belt. This photo shows Vicki Simons in the passenger seat of a large commercial motor vehicle with her combination lap and shoulder belt (seat belt) in place.

She had put an inverted milk crate/tote on the floor in front of the passenger seat upon which to rest her feet so that she could easily use a laptop computer while her husband Mike was driving down the road.

Articles About Seat Belt Use for Truckers

The following resources are geared specifically for professional truck drivers:

Our Observation About Seat Belt Use In A Large Truck

We have never read an article about a trucker being ejected from his/her truck in which the he/she was wearing a seatbelt.

This goes for passengers in big rigs, too.

We know a trucker who was once involved in a crash that was so violent that the front axle of the tractor became detached.

When the trucker was asked by law enforcement afterwards if he had been wearing a seatbelt — and the trucker said yes — the officer replied something to the effect: “Good. It saved your life.”

Yes, we know that wearing a seatbelt may be uncomfortable, but trust us when we tell you that in an emergency, there simply isn’t time to buckle up!

Truckers And/Or Passengers Ejected From Trucks

Now, let’s look at 16 news articles about truckers and/or their passengers who were ejected from a truck after a crash:

We don’t know if any of these truckers or passengers survived following being ejected from the commercial motor vehicle.

Top Reasons Why People Don’t Buckle Up

None of the excuses listed in these articles will hold up after the driver and/or passenger is ejected from a vehicle.

What About Buckling Up In The Bunk?

To the best of our knowledge, every tractor that has one or more sleeper berths has a “net” for each bunk — installed on the back wall — that can be used to restrain a sleeping person from being ejected from a bunk in the event of a sudden stop or crash.

So it is recommended that the sleeping driver be buckled up in the bunk in the following situations:

truck driver trainers and student drivers or truck driver trainees whose companies treat trainers and trainees as team drivers; and
actual team drivers who are sleeping while their co-drivers are driving.