Scholarship Fund

Memorial

Only two of the fifty states, Georgia and Indiana-both primary-law states-exclude adult pickup truck occupants from their mandatory restraint requirement. No other state, even secondary law states, grant this exception to occupants of standard duty pickup trucks.

Using the 1999 Indiana crash data, it was estimated that 33 more lives would have been saved annually if the restraint usage rates of pickup truck occupants were 60 percent and 44 more would have been saved with a 70 percent pickup usage rate. The number of pickup fatalities increased from 145 to 146, and the percent restrained for 1999 (13.7 percent) was essentially the same as in 1998 (13.1 percent).

Pickup Truck Occupant Safety Seat Belt Usage

"I drive a pickup, van or SUV that has a registration plate for a pickup truck. Therefore, I do not have to wear a seat belt, according to the law."

Recent court rulings have stated that a pickup truck, van or Sport Utility Vehicle, if not used primarily for the business of hauling cargo, though registered as a pickup truck, is considered a passenger vehicle. All passenger motor vehicles are subject to the Indiana Seat Belt Law. IC 9-13-2-123 states that a Passenger Motor Vehicle means a motor vehicle designed for carrying passengers. Most officers are beginning to enforce the seat belt law on all passenger vehicles, whether the vehicle is registered as a passenger car or pickup truck.