Interpretation ID: aiam3979
Esq.
Assistant City Attorney
City of Champaign
102 North Neil Street
Champaign
IL 61820;
Dear Ms. Samuelson: Thank you for your letter of June 4, 1985, to Mr. Gary Butler of ou Region V office, which was forwarded to my office for reply. You asked whether Federal law requires safety belts to be installed and used in several types of vehicles. I understand from conversations between my staff and Mr. Butler that your question is related to the provision of Illinois' belt use law which exempts a person operating 'a motor vehicle which is not required to be equipped with seat safety belts under federal law' from the safety belt use requirement. I hope the following discussion is of assistance to you in your effort to ensure that the City of Champaign is in compliance with Illinois' safety belt use requirement. I believe that Illinois' law and your efforts can have an immediate and beneficial safety impact on the citizens of Champaign. I would encourage you to have all occupants of municipal vehicles wear their safety belts regardless of whether they are covered by your State's belt use requirement.; The agency has issued, under the authority of the National Traffic an Motor Vehicle Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 1381 *et seq*.), Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 208, *Occupant Crash Protection*, which requires the installation of occupant restraints, such as safety belts, in vehicles. Standard No. 208 requires only the installation of the restraints, it does not require their use. A copy of the standard is enclosed for your reference. I hope the following discussion explains how Standard No. 208 applies to each of the vehicles you mentioned.; You asked about fire trucks and public work trucks. Those vehicle would be governed by S4.2 or 4.3 of the standard, depending upon the gross vehicle weight rating of the truck. Police cars would be classified as passenger cars under our standard and currently would have to comply with the requirement of S4.1.2 of our standard.; The application of the standard to the remaining category of vehicle you asked about would depend upon their construction and use. All of our standards apply only to motor vehicles. The Vehicle Safety Act defines a motor vehicle as 'any vehicle driven or drawn by mechanical power manufactured primarily for use on the public streets, roads and highways, except any vehicle operated exclusively on a rail or rails.' (15 U.S.C. 1391(3)); In interpreting this definition, the agency has said that a vehicl which cannot exceed 20 mph and has an unusual configuration which sets it apart from the rest of the traffic is not a motor vehicle and thus does not have to comply with our standards, even if it uses the public roads. These vehicles, typically, are highway maintenance and construction equipment, lane stripers and other similar vehicles. Thus, if the snow plows, road graders and other specialized types of public work vehicles you asked about have a top speed that does not exceed 20 mph and have an unusual configuration, they would not be covered by Standard No. 208. However, if these vehicles are conventional trucks that use the public roads and have specialized work equipment mounted on them, then they would have to meet the occupant crash protection requirements set in Standard No. 208 for trucks.; If you have any further questions, please let me know. Sincerely, Jeffrey R. Miller, Chief Counsel