Not Wearing a Seat Belt in an Atlanta Car Accident? How Georgia’s 2025 Law Changed Your Claim

For decades, a Georgia jury deciding a car crash case never heard whether the injured person was wearing a seat belt. That rule is gone. If you were hurt in an Atlanta car accident and were not buckled up, an insurance company may now try to use that fact against you. Here is what changed, what limits still apply and what you can do to protect your claim.

What the old rule said

Georgia’s seat belt statute, O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76.1, has long required seat belt use in passenger vehicles. Before 2025, though, subsection (d) gave injured people strong protection in court. It said that failing to wear a seat belt could not be considered evidence of negligence or causation, could not be considered by the jury on any question of liability and could not be used to reduce a recovery. In practice, the seat belt question stayed out of the courtroom.

What Senate Bill 68 changed

Senate Bill 68, a broad civil justice bill, was signed and took effect on April 21, 2025. Section 5 of that Act rewrote subsection (d). Under the new language, the failure of an occupant to wear a seat belt may be admissible in a civil case on the issues of negligence, comparative negligence, causation, assumption of risk and apportionment of fault. You can follow the bill’s history on the Georgia General Assembly website.

That is a significant shift. A defense lawyer can now argue that some of your injuries would not have happened, or would have been less severe, if you had been belted. If a jury agrees, it may assign part of the fault to you.

Limits that still apply

The new law did not make seat belt evidence automatically admissible in every case. Three limits matter:

• The judge is still the gatekeeper. The statute expressly preserves the court’s power to decide admissibility under O.C.G.A. § 24-4-403 and other rules of evidence. Section 24-4-403 allows a court to exclude relevant evidence when its value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues or misleading the jury.
• The evidence still has to connect to your injuries. Not wearing a belt does not cause a crash. The real dispute is usually whether a belt would have prevented or reduced a particular injury, which often calls for medical and engineering proof.
• Insurance rates are still protected. The statute still says that failing to wear a seat belt is not a basis for canceling coverage or raising insurance rates.

Does the change apply to crashes before April 2025?

Possibly. Section 9 of the Act states that two sections, those dealing with negligent security and with medical expense damages, apply only to causes of action arising on or after the effective date. It then says the General Assembly intended all other provisions, including the seat belt change, to apply to cases pending on the effective date unless that would be unconstitutional. Whether a court applies the new rule to an older crash can depend on the facts and on arguments that are still developing. If your crash happened before April 21, 2025, do not assume the old protection still covers you.

How comparative fault affects the outcome

Georgia uses a modified comparative fault system under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33. If a jury finds that you share some responsibility, your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found 50 percent or more responsible, you cannot recover damages from the other party.

Seat belt evidence now feeds into that calculation. The other driver may have run the red light, but the defense may argue that a share of your harm traces to the unbuckled belt. That argument does not erase the other driver’s fault, but it can affect the value of your claim and the way an insurer approaches settlement.

Hypothetical: A driver is stopped at a light on Peachtree Street when another car rear-ends her. She was not wearing her seat belt and suffers a shoulder injury and a cut on her forehead. The insurer argues that a belt would have kept her from striking the steering wheel. Her medical records and the vehicle evidence may show that the shoulder injury came from the impact itself, regardless of the belt. Those details can make a real difference in how fault and damages are divided.

How the defense may try to prove it

Insurers and defense lawyers look for seat belt evidence in several places:

• The crash report. Officers often note whether occupants were restrained.
• Medical records. Emergency room and EMS notes frequently record whether a patient was belted.
• The vehicle. Belt wear marks, locked retractors and airbag deployment can all be examined.
• Event data recorders. Many vehicles store data on belt status, speed and braking in the seconds before a crash.
• Your own statements. What you tell an adjuster, post online or say in a deposition can be used.

Getting an Atlanta crash report

Which agency writes the report depends on where the crash happened. Inside the city limits, it is often the Atlanta Police Department. Crashes on interstates such as I-75, I-85 and I-285 may be handled by the Georgia State Patrol, and crashes just outside the city may involve a county or other city police department. The City of Atlanta reaches into both Fulton and DeKalb counties, so it pays to confirm which agency responded.

According to the Atlanta Police Department, its accident reports can be purchased online through BuyCrash.com or picked up from Central Records at the Atlanta Public Safety Annex on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. Check the report carefully for errors, including the restraint information.

Other 2025 changes that may affect a crash case

The same law changed other parts of injury litigation. It limits when and how lawyers can suggest dollar amounts for pain and suffering to a jury (O.C.G.A. § 9-10-184). It allows a party to request a trial in phases, with fault decided before damages, subject to exceptions such as cases worth less than $150,000 (O.C.G.A. § 51-12-15). It also changed how medical expenses are proven for crashes on or after April 21, 2025. Each of these can affect how a case is valued and tried.

Steps to protect your claim

1. Get medical care right away and follow your treatment plan. Gaps in care give the defense another argument.
2. Be accurate about belt use. Tell doctors and officers the truth. Inconsistent statements usually hurt more than the fact itself.
3. Preserve the vehicle before it is repaired or salvaged. Photograph the belts, airbags, steering wheel, windshield and interior damage.
4. Ask about the event data recorder. That data can be lost when a vehicle is repaired or sold.
5. Keep a record of how each injury happened and what you felt right after the crash.
6. Be careful with adjusters. You do not have to give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurer.
7. Watch the deadline. Most Georgia personal injury lawsuits must be filed within two years (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33).

For a broader look at the process, see our guide on how a car accident claim works, step by step. Our post on evidence to save when fault is disputed explains what to gather early, and our metro Atlanta truck accident guide covers crashes involving commercial vehicles.

How our office can help

A seat belt argument is not the end of a claim. Our office can obtain the crash report and vehicle data, review your medical records, work with qualified consultants when needed and respond to the defense’s causation arguments. If you need an Atlanta car accident lawyer, we can review your situation and explain your options.

Call us today, at (770) 840-9098 to speak with Attorney Ned Ogueri.

Disclaimer: This article is general information, not legal advice. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. We handle injury cases on a contingency fee basis: you pay no attorney fee and no case costs unless we recover compensation for you. If we do, costs are repaid from the recovery as your written fee agreement explains.