How Seatbelt Usage Affects Car Accident Recovery in Georgia Under New Laws

While many safety experts recommend wearing seatbelts, there is evidence that seatbelts can sometimes cause injuries, particularly when they are defectively designed or don’t fit properly. For various reasons, many drivers and passengers in Georgia choose not to wear them.

But recent changes in Georgia law can make the decision to skip the seatbelt costly, both economically and physically. Read on to learn how your seatbelt usage could affect your ability to recover compensation after a car accident in Georgia.

The Old Law

Until recently, judges and juries were not allowed to hear evidence about seatbelt usage in car accident cases. The law prohibited factfinders from considering whether an accident victim was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the collision. In addition, the law prohibited insurance companies from using evidence of seatbelt use to justify cancelling your car insurance or raising your rates.

However, insurance lobbyists convinced lawmakers that this rule needed to change.

The Revised Statute

The new law, which passed as SB 68 in 2025, amends subsection (d) of Section 40-8-76.1 of the Georgia Code to specify that failing to wear a seatbelt “may be considered in any civil action as evidence admissible on the issues of negligence, comparative negligence, causation, assumption of risk, or apportionment of fault or for any other purpose.”

However, the statutory amendment does not change the restriction on insurance companies’ use of this information for coverage purposes. Insurance companies are still prohibited from cancelling your insurance coverage and raising your rates just because you weren’t wearing a seatbelt.

How the Change Could Affect the Recovery of Compensation

It may seem unfair, but a victim’s ability to recover compensation for injuries in a car accident has nothing to do with how badly they are hurt. Before an accident victim can receive compensation, their legal team must be able to prove that someone besides the accident victim bears the majority of the blame for causing the injuries. The new seatbelt law makes this more difficult. And even when the victim’s legal team overcomes this challenge, they face an uphill battle to obtain full compensation. It has become more important than ever to work with a legal team that is dedicated to personal service and working hard to uncover all the critical evidence that could affect liability.

Demonstrating Liability

Someone can become legally liable for the consequences of an accident if they are at fault for causing it. But it is necessary to look not only at who is at fault for causing a car crash, but also at the actions that specifically led to injuries in that crash. Ultimately, it is the fault for causing injuries that is what is important, rather than the cause of the collision itself.

To determine what caused injuries in a car accident, it is necessary to consider extensive technical evidence. This often includes reports from accident reconstruction engineers. Using evidence such as skid marks, photos of vehicle damage, witness testimony, medical records, and video footage, reconstruction experts try to reconstruct the incidents that caused the injuries and identify who is responsible.

Failing to Wear a Seatbelt Could Have Been a Factor Contributing to the Injuries

Part of the assessment of liability is determining whether the accident victim did something negligent that caused them to get hurt or made the injuries worse. Thanks to the change in the law, a court can now consider whether the lack of a seatbelt caused injuries or whether the injuries would have been less serious if the victim had been wearing a seatbelt.

The Comparative Fault Rules in Georgia

Georgia has a statute that divides fault between parties in a personal injury lawsuit. It’s sometimes called comparative fault or comparative negligence. The concept is also referred to as contributory negligence, although that term is usually applied to a legal doctrine that is more strict in its application.

Section 51-12-33 of the Georgia Code sets forth three main rules:

• If someone brings a personal injury lawsuit for harm they have suffered, the judge should determine whether the person bringing the action is partially responsible for causing their injuries. If so, the judge should determine the percentage of fault that should be assigned to that person and reduce the amount of damages they receive by that percentage.
• If there is more than one person (other than the person filing the lawsuit) responsible for causing the injuries, fault is divided among them, and they are each liable for their share of damages.
• If the injured person who filed the lawsuit is 50 percent or more responsible for causing those injuries, then that person cannot recover any compensation from anyone in the lawsuit.

So, if the court decides your actions are part of the reason you were injured, then you may be completely barred from recovering anything in the lawsuit. At the very least, the amount of your recovery will be reduced. It becomes crucial to work with an attorney who is prepared to argue persuasively that your actions had little bearing on your injuries.

Failure to Wear a Seatbelt and Comparative Negligence

The change in the rules regarding the evidence about the use of seatbelts means that you will have to take a very careful and deliberate approach to an accident claim if you were injured in a collision while you were not wearing a seatbelt. The insurance companies will certainly argue that if you had been wearing a seatbelt, you would have walked away from the crash with hardly a scratch. That is probably not true, but you must be ready with solid evidence to refute that argument, or your claim will be dismissed.

Even if the insurance company fails to convince the court that the lack of a seatbelt caused the majority of your injuries, they still may succeed in getting your damage award reduced by an unfair amount. To fight back effectively, it is important to dig deep to find the right evidence and to present it effectively.

Find Out How Michael M. Day Can Work to Help You Recover Maximum Compensation After Your Accident

Not every attorney knows how to effectively refute arguments about comparative negligence—especially under the new rules. When you are looking for the right injury attorney to take on your case, you need to discuss seatbelt usage and how it could affect your case. At Michael M. Day Law Firm, we limit the number of clients we work with so we can focus our attention on fully developing the arguments for each individual case. We work tirelessly to uncover evidence and build strong claims for recovery through settlement or litigation. To discuss the possibilities in your situation, call us at 404-480-4284 or contact us online to schedule a free case evaluation.