I can’t get a good answer for this as Google is thinking I’m talking just solely on the driver. I’m including passengers who don’t. I’ve seen PSAs that tell you the dangers you pose for others as well when you don’t wear a seatbelt. So if you don’t wear a seatbelt and that results in someone being killed could you not wearing a seatbelt mean you get a manslaughter charge?
Are you saying the driver is wearing the seatbelt, the passenger(s) aren’t?
And how does the death result? Is it because of an accident? Are they messing/moving around in the car? Are they legally allowed to not be wearing a seatbelt in the vehicle?
There’s too many undefined variables I think for anyone to give you a solid answer.
I’ve heard it mentioned that a passenger in the rear without a seat belt becomes a projectile in a crash and can kill or injure the person sitting in front of them.
That’s on the driver. If you’re driving, you are responsible for everyone in the car and out of it. If you drove off with someone unbuckled, that’s on you.
That was my thoughts
As I understand it, getting someone killed through negligence of any kind is manslaughter.
So I’d say yes.
Same idea, but if a pedestrian is jaywalking across a street, technically illegal and it’s not a safe move - but is struck by a car - the car is still at fault. As a driver you are still in charge of driving a 2-5 thousand pound hunk of steel and you accept that risk when you get behind the wheel. So I think logically, what the person was doing was not the smartest - but that doesn’t mean they deserved death for it - you are responsible.
Think about it this way - if you hadn’t been there driving would they have been fine? If so, you caused it, you’re at fault.
Same applies to rape and dressing provocatively. It’s an irrelevant argument because it puts blame on the victim, when no matter what they do they don’t deserve that outcome. The blame is on the person who caused it in the first place.
It still falls back onto the driver, as they chose to start driving without everyone buckled in.
According to this page, you could attempt to argue “lack of causation” if there was no connection between you not wearing a seat belt and your passenger getting killed.
But, the person who died is buckled in. That’s how I read it.
