Per the Texas manual, a passenger of what minimum age can receive their own citation for not wearing a safety belt?
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A.
15 years old. Correct
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B.
18 years old.
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C.
8 years old.
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D.
17 years old.
The answer is "15 years old."
Anyone at least 15 years old can receive a personal citation for not wearing a safety belt. The driver-liability rule for passengers under 17 is a separate charge that runs alongside it, so a 15- or 16-year-old passenger and the driver can each be cited from the same stop. Option D carries the 17 from that driver-liability rule and mistakes it for the passenger's own citation floor.
The traps in the wrong answers
B. 18 years old.
The manual sets the personal-citation floor at 15, well below the age of majority. Defaults to 18 as the adult-responsibility age, since most personal-liability rules line up with legal adulthood.
C. 8 years old.
The under-8 threshold governs the child car seat requirement, with a height exception for children taller than 4'9", not the age at which a passenger can be personally ticketed for a belt violation. Assumes the age a child leaves the car-seat rule is the age they take on their own belt citation.
D. 17 years old.
Under 17 is the age below which the driver is fined for the passenger's belt violation, not the age a passenger can be ticketed personally. Reads the driver-liability age cap as the passenger's own citation floor, flipping the direction of who is on the hook at which age.
This question tests your knowledge of Safety Belts & Restraints in Texas. Source: Texas Driver Manual, "Penalties for Driving Without a Safety Belt," p.64..
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