Massachusetts permit test: seat belts & equipment
Seat belts, child restraints, air bags, mirrors and required equipment. 5 questions.
Under Massachusetts law, a child must ride in a federally approved child passenger restraint until reaching what age or height?
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Sample seat belts & equipment questions
Under Massachusetts law, a child must ride in a federally approved child passenger restraint until reaching what age or height?
- A Age eight or fifty-seven inches tall
- B Age five or forty inches tall
- C Age twelve or five feet tall
- D Age six or fifty inches tall
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A. Age eight or fifty-seven inches tall
Children must ride in an approved child restraint until they are at least eight years old or at least 57 inches tall. After that they must wear a properly fitted safety belt. Breaking this law can bring a $25 fine.
Source: Massachusetts Driver's Manual (Class D Passenger Vehicles), page 44
You are driving and your 14-year-old passenger is not wearing a safety belt. Who can be fined?
- A Only the passenger can be fined $25
- B Only the vehicle's owner can be fined $50
- C No one, because the passenger is under 16
- D You, the driver, can be fined $25
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D. You, the driver, can be fined $25
Massachusetts fines a driver $25 for each passenger aged 12 through 15 who is not buckled up. Passengers 16 and older are fined themselves, and younger children fall under the child restraint law.
Source: Massachusetts Driver's Manual (Class D Passenger Vehicles), page 43
When can a police officer give you a Massachusetts safety belt fine?
- A Only after you are involved in a crash
- B Any time an officer sees you without a belt
- C Only when you are stopped for another traffic violation
- D Only at a posted safety checkpoint
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C. Only when you are stopped for another traffic violation
Massachusetts enforces its safety belt law as a secondary offense: you can be fined only when stopped for another traffic violation. That does not make the belt optional, since it cuts the risk of death or serious injury by about half.
Source: Massachusetts Driver's Manual (Class D Passenger Vehicles), page 43
Where should a rear-facing infant seat never be placed?
- A In the middle of the back seat
- B In a front seat that has a passenger air bag
- C Behind the driver's seat
- D Behind the front passenger seat
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B. In a front seat that has a passenger air bag
Never put a rear-facing child seat in a front passenger seat with an air bag; an inflating air bag can strike the seat with great force. Children are safest in the back seat, and the back middle seat is best.
Source: Massachusetts Driver's Manual (Class D Passenger Vehicles), page 44