• Kentucky requires the use of child safety seats in cars.child in the car image by Natalia Pavlova from Fotolia.com
  
  Use of seat belts and child safety seats dramatically decreases serious injuries and deaths in car crashes. Seat belt laws vary from state to state, but Kentucky law allows police to stop drivers for any seat belt violation. The state has specific requirements for buckling up young passengers in approved safety seats. Failure to follow the rules can result in fines.
  
  

Standard Enforcement

• Kentucky's seat belt laws allow standard enforcement, also called primary enforcement. This means the police don't need another reason to stop a driver in addition to a seat belt violation. You can be ticketed if police notice that children or other passengers aren't properly restrained, even if there's no other traffic violation or car crash.
  
  In some states, police only write seat belt citations when a driver is stopped for another reason. This isn't the law in Kentucky.
  
  

Child Seats

• Under Kentucky seat belt law, all children who are 40 inches tall, or less, must ride in child or infant safety seats. Children who are younger than 7 years old and are between 40 and 50 inches tall must ride in booster seats. The booster seat should elevate the child to a height that will allow him to use an adult seat belt.
  
  

Seat Belts

• Kids who are more than 50 inches tall don't need to ride in safety or booster seats in Kentucky, but must wear adult seat belts like any other passenger, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. This includes children under 7 who are more than 50 inches tall.
  
  

Fines

• Seat belt violations in Kentucky carry fines. As of 2010, the fine for failing to secure a child in a proper safety seat is $50 and the fine for failing to secure a child in a proper booster seat is $30, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
  
  

Seat Location

• While some states specify that children must ride in the back seat, Kentucky law is silent on the subject. However, Kentucky law does specify that children must be properly secured in child seats and booster seats that meet federal motor vehicle safety standards.