• Pennsylvania law requires children of a certain age or weight to be in a safety seat.child in the car image by Natalia Pavlova from Fotolia.com
  
  Child safety seats cut the number of child deaths in car accidents in half, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC estimated that 425 children under age 5 were saved by car and booster seat usage. Pennsylvania requires safety seat or booster seat use for children depending upon weight and age.
  
  

Restraint Systems Requirement

• Pennsylvania state law requires that any driver with a passenger under 4 years old anywhere in the vehicle, including the cargo area, must fasten the child in a child passenger restraint system that meets Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, according to the state vehicle code. Drivers can be stopped and cited for violations of this particular subsection of the vehicle code.
  
  

Restraint Systems Requirement, Ages 4 to 8

• Drivers with children between ages 4 and 8 must place the child in a safety seat belt system with an appropriately fitting child booster seat meeting the federal standards as well. However, unlike rules for the subsection dealing with children under 4, the regulation overseeing passengers between 4 and 8 is a secondary violation. This means the driver must have been stopped and be cited for another traffic offense before they can be cited for a violation of the passenger restraint law.
  
  

Other occupants

• All drivers and front seat passengers must wear a seatbelt, according to the state law. In addition, anyone between ages 8 and 18 must wear a seat belt as well. Exemptions exist for vehicles made prior to July 1, 1966, anyone with a physician's letter exempting them, rural letter carriers between stops and delivery drivers moving at less than 15 mph.
  
  

Violations

• Violations of the subsections covering children under 4 and between ages 4 and 8 are summary offenses with maximum fines of $100. Violations of the subsection covering children between 8 and 18 and all other occupants are guilty of a summary violations with a maximum $10 fine. Auxiliary costs, such as contributions to the state ambulance fund and court costs, are often added on to traffic fines in Pennsylvania and could increase the eventual price of the fine to more than $200 for the under 4, and $140 for the 4 to 8-year-old violations, respectively.
  
  However, if before or at the violation hearing the driver presents proof he or she has obtained a child safety restraint system or booster seat as appropriate, the lower court judge can dismiss the citation. Valid proof includes receipt or other proof of loan.