[Dawgdoc]

I literally have no reason to be interested in this issue, but my wife has seen an interesting debate on Facebook, so I started to research the issue.

As far as I can determine, all the seat belt and car seat laws in Georgia do not seem to apply to motorcycles. On this Facebook page, there is a former LEO is citing the car seat law, but I cannot find any information about motorcycles. I suspect that this is an oversight by the legislature, but even the Governor's Office of Highway Safety does not mention motorcycles and children at all (as either prohibited or allowed).

I figured someone on here might know more about the issue. In other words, could a child under 8 ride as a passenger on a motorcycle?

 

[Wegahe]

The answer is yes children can ride as passengers on motorcycles. Seat belts on motorcycles are far more dangerous than not having one. If an accident occurs you want to separate the bodies from the motorcycle and each other. In Georgia there is a helmet requirement. Which is why my Texas DL with MC carried over to my Georgia DL but I will not ride in Georgia. I probably pushed Harleys more miles than most people have ridden. Putting 150,000 miles on a 96'' stroker in 5 years suggest I used to do some serious riding. We didn't have a helmet law in Texas. Back then not many states had helmet requirements. Even Georgia didn't. So I rode every state except 1. Couldn't figure out how to ride across the pond to Hawaii.

 

[Dawgdoc]

My plain reading of the law suggested that there was not a prohibition against children on motorcycles. If that is true, then the disturbing part is that there is a LEO on the Facebook page who claims to have successfully cited people for the offense and had it upheld in court. Another person reported that their relative, who was cited for having a 5-year old on a motorcycle, was told by the judge that although he was technically correct about the law, the judge would convict him of child endangerment.

It appears to be a case of "I don't care what the law says, that's illegal!" type mentality without the hard facts to back it up.

 

[Phil1979]

Not an age limit, but I believe all passengers' feet must be able to reach the original location of the footrest pedals.

 

[Wheedle]

Not an age limit, but I believe all passengers' feet must be able to reach the original location of the footrest pedals.

I'm not sure it even says 'original location' I think it just says passenger footpegs.