If you’re the driver or a front-seat passenger, you must wear a seat belt in a passenger vehicle in Georgia. Ditto if you’re 17 or under and riding in the back seat. But if you’re an adult in the back seat, you don’t have to buckle up under state law.

That could change this year. A state Senate committee recently recommended that the General Assembly pass a law requiring everyone in a passenger vehicle to buckle up.

Traffic safety experts say the move would save lives. But the General Assembly has resisted seat belt requirements in the past – for some lawmakers, it’s a matter of personal liberty and responsibility.

Now we want to know: Do you buckle up when you’re riding in the back seat? Why or why not? Would you support a law requiring everyone to buckle up?

If you’re willing to be quoted in an upcoming article, contact AJC reporter David Wickert: dwickert@ajc.com.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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