The law, as it currently stands in Georgia, prevents a defense attorney from mentioning whether a plaintiff was not wearing his/her seatbelt at the time of an accident.  That means a defense attorney cannot argue a plaintiff contributed to his/her own injuries by not wearing a seatbelt.  There is a bill before the Georgia Assembly, SB23 that if passed would permit evidence of a failure to use a seatbelt to be considered as negligence or contributory negligence on the part of the Plaintiff.  There is no question that seatbelts help save lives.  There interesting issue is whether the defendant should get a free pass when but-for the defendant hitting the plaintiff, there would not have been an accident.

It is also unclear whether the law would be retroactive – that is to say whether the law would apply to all accidents before the bill was passed, or for only those accidents that occur after the law is signed by the governor.

One final thought.  I am always on guard for defense attorneys who just throw out accusations.  Their main strategy is to always confuse the issues. If this law passes you can bet I will research a motion to prevent the defense from mentioning the seatbelt would have lessened the injuries without offering expert testimony to that effect.  Attorneys cannot make this types of arguments without an expert testifying to such.  Of course it is always up to the Judge on whether this happens or not.