Safety belts — Utah Permit Test

Everyone in a vehicle in Utah must have a fastened safety belt or a child seat.

A belt keeps you behind the wheel where the controls are, and keeps a passenger out of the person in front.

Always fasten your safety belt. Everyone in your vehicle must have a fastened safety belt or child seat.

A lap belt should fit across the hips rather than the stomach, and the shoulder harness should not sit under the arm or behind the back.

Hip bones can take the load of a crash. Soft organs cannot, and a belt across the stomach finds them.

Pull the shoulder harness across your shoulder and chest until it is snug; the lap belt should fit across the hips, not your stomach.

A person thrown from a car is 23 times more likely to be killed.

Ejection is the worst thing that happens in a crash, and the belt is the only thing that prevents it.

Your chances of being killed are 23 times greater if you are thrown from a car.

70% of crashes occur at speeds under 40 mph, so a safety belt should be worn at any speed.

The crashes that hurt people are not the dramatic ones. They happen a few streets from home at city speeds.

70% of crashes occur at speeds under 40 mph. A safety belt should be worn at any speed, regardless of how slow you are moving.

Three out of four crashes resulting in death happen within 25 miles of home.

The short trip to the shop is where most people die, which is exactly the trip people skip the belt on.

Three out of four crashes resulting in death are within 25 miles of home.

In a crash the force on a driver’s body equals their weight multiplied by the vehicle’s speed, so a 150 pound person crashing at 30 mph meets 4,500 pounds of force.

Nobody can brace against two tons. That number is why holding the wheel is not a substitute for a belt.

In a crash, the forces exerted on your body equal your weight multiplied by the car’s speed. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds and crash while traveling 30 mph, there would be 4,500 pounds of force on your body.

In Utah roughly two out of three motor vehicle deaths would not happen if safety belts were worn.

Two deaths in three is not a rounding error. It is most of the people Utah loses on its roads each year.

In Utah, approximately two out of three motor vehicle deaths would not happen if safety belts were worn.

Who must be restrained in a vehicle in Utah?

Everyone in the vehicle. A belt keeps you behind the wheel where the controls are, and keeps a passenger out of the person in front. Utah Driver Handbook 2026-2027, p.27: “Always fasten your safety belt. Everyone in your vehicle must have a fastened safety belt or child seat.”