Seat Belts, Air Bags and Child Safety Seats, and Penalties: Suspension and Revocation, Conviction-Related Actions, Demerit Points and the Driver Improvement Program, Medical Review, Insurance Monitoring, Child Support, Open Containers, DUI with Children, Impoundment, Restitution, Administrative License Suspension and Underage Alcohol Penalties
Written for aiforu2 as the source for a practice-test bank and the on-device tutor for the Virginia driver's license knowledge exam. The facts follow the official manual; the wording is ours.
Source: Virginia Driver's Manual (DMV 39, 2026 printing), Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, section 4 "Seat Belts, Air Bags and Child Safety Seats" (pp. 26–27) and section 5 "Penalties" (pp. 28–30).
Seat belts and air bags
Belts can double your chance of surviving a crash and more than double your chance of avoiding serious injury. The driver and all passengers, front and rear, must wear them, and a driver carrying anyone under 18 must see that the passenger is belted, boosted or in a child seat wherever seated. Wear the lap belt low against the thighs and the shoulder belt over the shoulder and across the chest, never behind the back or under the arm; pregnant women wear the belt as low on the pelvis as possible. A licensed physician may grant a waiver for a physical or medical condition; carry the signed statement. Air bags cushion the head, neck and chest in a front-end crash when used with belts: buckle everyone, sit at least ten inches from the wheel, tilt an adjustable wheel downward toward your chest, and seat children 12 and under in the back.
Child safety seats
All children under 8 must ride in a child safety seat or booster in vehicles made after January 1, 1968. Children ride rear-facing from birth to 2 years or as long as the seat allows; a rear-facing seat may go in the front only when the vehicle has no back seat and no passenger air bag or the bag is turned off; children then ride forward-facing in a safety seat or booster until at least 8 or until a belt fits properly. A physician may waive the rule for weight, fitness or medical reasons; carry the statement. The driver is responsible: the fine is $50, and $500 for a second or later offense. Install the seat in the center of the back seat, attend a seat check, never hold a child in your lap, keep doors locked with child locks on and stop before opening one, never let children ride in the luggage area of a hatchback, wagon or van or with a hatch open, and never carry children under 16 in a pickup bed even under a camper shell. A child can ride without a booster when the lap belt lies snugly across the upper thighs, the shoulder belt across the shoulder and chest, and the child sits upright against the seat back with knees bent naturally over the edge and feet flat on the floor for the whole trip.
Suspension and revocation
A suspension withdraws the privilege temporarily; you reinstate by paying fees at the end and proving legal presence, and if the license expired a year or more during the suspension you also pass the knowledge, road and vision exams. A revocation terminates the privilege; after the period you reapply, prove legal presence, and pass the vision screening, two-part knowledge exam and road test. The court or DMV will suspend or revoke for DUI, injuring someone while DUI, driving while suspended or revoked for DUI, driving without a required ignition interlock, lying to DMV, failing to stop and identify yourself at an injury or fatal crash, manslaughter with a vehicle (including while intoxicated), a vehicle-related drug offense, a felony with a vehicle, taking a license exam or renewal for someone else, and eluding police. The court may suspend or revoke for reckless or aggressive driving, driving without a valid license, driving while suspended or revoked for a non-DUI reason, and refusing a blood or breath test.
Demerit points and driver improvement
DMV records every conviction and assigns three, four or six demerit points to traffic offenses, watching 12- and 24-month totals (see Moving Violations and Points Assessment, DMV 115). Under 18: any demerit-point (or belt or child-restraint) conviction requires a driver improvement clinic within 90 days or the privilege is suspended; a second conviction brings a 90-day suspension; a third brings revocation for one year or until 18, whichever is longer. Age 18 or 19: any such conviction requires the clinic. 18 or older: 12 points in 12 months or 18 in 24 requires the clinic within 90 days or suspension follows; 18 points in 12 months or 24 in 24 brings a 90-day suspension plus the clinic.
Medical review, insurance and child support
On a report that a physical or mental condition affects driving, DMV may review consciousness, vision, judgment and motor skills, require a physician's medical or vision report or the knowledge and road tests, and then suspend, restrict, require periodic reports, or close the review; reinstatement after a medical suspension needs no legal-presence documents. Registering a vehicle, you certify liability insurance or pay the $500 uninsured motor vehicle fee; DMV suspends the privilege if you fail to verify coverage when asked or let coverage lapse without returning the plates. Child Support Enforcement orders a suspension when you are 90 days or $5,000 behind or ignore a paternity or support subpoena, summons or warrant.
Alcohol and the law
Under implied consent, driving on Virginia's public roads means agreeing to a breath test on request, and after a crash an officer with probable cause may arrest you for DUI within three hours without a warrant anywhere. Administrative License Suspension is automatic when you refuse the test or blow .08 or higher and are charged: seven days for a first offense, 60 days or until trial for a second, and until trial for a third, with court penalties added on conviction and multiple suspensions running consecutively. You can be charged with drinking while driving if you are stopped with an open container partially emptied in the passenger area (anywhere within the driver's reach, including an unlocked glove box) and show signs of drinking. A DUI with a passenger 17 or younger adds a mandatory five-day jail term and a $500 to $1,000 fine, and a second such offense adds 80 hours of community service. Driving on a license suspended for an alcohol offense means immediate 30-day impoundment, plus 90 more days on conviction; driving unlicensed after a prior unlicensed conviction means impoundment until you get a license or three days, whichever is less. Localities may charge up to $1,000 restitution for police, medical, fire and rescue response to a DUI crash.
Under 21 you may not buy, possess or drink alcohol. Driving after illegal consumption with a BAC of .02 to under .08 brings a one-year suspension from conviction and a minimum $500 fine or at least 50 hours of community service; at .08 or higher the adult penalties apply. Providing or selling alcohol to anyone under 21, an intoxicated person or someone court-ordered not to drink brings a fine up to $2,500, a mandatory suspension up to one year and 12 months in jail. Using a fake ID to drink or buy alcohol brings at least $500, at least 50 hours of community service, up to 12 months in jail, and a suspension of six months to one year. Virginia has zero tolerance for underage drinking.
Practise this with Virginia Driver License questions
More of this guide
The ten-sign first part and 80 percent second part of the knowledge exam, the 15-day wait for teens, the three-failure rule, road test vehicle requirements and the 60-day permit rule, 20/40 and 20/70 vision standards, learner's permit supervision, license and CDL types, receiving the license by mail, 30-day address and title deadlines, 60 days for new residents, annual inspection, the penny test, the $500 uninsured fee and the 30/60/20 insurance minimums.
Red, yellow and green lights and arrows, right and left turns on red, red arrows, flashing signals, dark signals as all-way stops, lane use signals, pedestrian hybrid beacons, sign colors and shapes, regulatory and warning signs, railroad crossings and crossbucks, work zone devices and fines, yellow and white line rules, two-way left-turn lanes, sharrows, bike lanes and bike boxes, HOV lanes, toll plazas and painted curbs.
Hands at 8 and 4, the 25, 35 and 55 mph limits, reckless driving at 20 over or 85 mph, the radar detector ban, when you must stop, the school bus rule and median exception, perception, reaction and braking distance, who yields to whom, funeral processions and convoys, the Move Over law and 500-foot rules, roundabouts, passing rules and the three-foot bicycle law, over-correcting, right and left turns, U-turns, hand signals, the two-, three- and four-second rule, searching 20 to 30 seconds ahead and blind spots.
Pedestrians, blind pedestrians and the crosswalk laws, bicyclists in the lane and the three-foot rule, looking twice for motorcycles, light rail, low-speed vehicles, truck No-Zones and 65-foot rigs, trailers, backing, the no-parking list and hill parking, headlights at 500 feet and with wipers, high and low beams, fog, rain, snow and ice, aggressive driving suspensions, the hand-held phone ban, drowsy driving, the .08 and .02 limits, drugs and marijuana, crash duties and the $3,000 report, deer crashes and what to do when police stop you.