Opinion ID: 1136194
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: 1986 Safety Belt Law

Text: In 1986, following our decision in Pasakarnis, the Florida Legislature passed the Florida Safety Belt Law. [7] Ch. 86-49, § 2, Laws of Fla. (codified at § 316.614(1)-(10), Fla. Stat. (Supp.1986)). The law's enactment also followed the enactment of Federal Motor Safety Standard 208, which was amended in 1984. See 49 C.F.R. § 571.208 (1994) (amended in 1984 by 49 Fed.Reg. 29010). [8] The Florida Safety Belt Law makes it unlawful for a driver to operate a vehicle or for a person sixteen years of age or older to be a passenger in the front seat unless restrained by a safety belt. A front seat passenger under sixteen years of age must wear a safety belt or a child restraint device. § 316.614(4), (5), Fla.Stat. (1995). Echoing some of the language used in Pasakarnis, subsection (10) of the newly enacted law stated: A violation of the provisions of this section shall not constitute negligence per se, nor shall such violation be used as prima facie evidence of negligence in any civil action. § 316.614(10), Fla.Stat. (Supp. 1986). The statute did not specify how evidence of failure to use a seat belt was to be used in a civil action for damages. The subsection's lack of direction combined with this Court's ambiguous reference to contributory negligence in Pasakarnis led to some concern that a jury might erroneously take a plaintiff's failure to use a seat belt into consideration twicefirst in apportioning fault under the comparative negligence doctrine, and later in considering the issue as a failure to mitigate damages. Meros & Chaisson, supra, at 10. [9] These concerns and the continuing debate over the use of seat belts and the effect of their nonuse in litigation resulted in the legislature's reexamination of the issue in 1990.