We Need You!
TRENDING NOW
Montana's New Car Seat Law
Starting October 1, 2025
The New Law - HB586
The Basics - What you need to know
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Children under 2 must be in a rear-facing car seat. ​
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We recommend keeping them rear facing as long as possible and it's best to keep them rear facing until they max out their seats height and weight limits. This means a 35 pound 4 year old could still be rear facing.
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Children aged 2 to 4 need to be in a rear-facing or forward-facing car seat with an internal harness.
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We recommend that they max out the height and or weight limit of their forward facing seat with the harness (which is usually up to 65 lbs.). This means a 58 pound 6 year old could still be in a forward facing car seat with a harness.
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Children aged 4 to 8 must be in a forward-facing seat or a booster seat.
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We recommend that they remain in a booster seat until they are 4'9" tall. See the blog post below for a 5 point check list to see if your child is ready to transition out of a booster seat.​
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Children aged 9 and older, or those who have outgrown booster seat limits, must be secured with a properly fitted standard seat belt with the lap belt positioned low on the hips and the shoulder belt positioned across the collar bone.​
- ​​We recommend that children under the age of 13 remain in the back seat to keep their growing bodies away from the potentially dangerous and deadly impact of the front airbags during a crash.​
Check out this Blog Post for more information:
Is your child in the right seat?
September 15 - 21, 2024
Drive Safe Missoula & Vision Zero
To accomplish this vision, we need you!
Your family, friends, other drivers, pedestrians, bikers, construction workers, and first responders need you!
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We all need you to get to where you are going safely.
We need you to drive "In Control" and buckled up, 100% Sober, and free from distractions.
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Drive Safe Missoula
We Need You!
Divisions
To prevent impaired driving through education, the support of traffic enforcement, the advancement of safe driving awareness and effective legislation.
The Missoula County Buckle Up Montana Coalition promotes proper seat belt and child safety seat use.
Need help obtaining a child safety seat? We can help. We have a limited number of Child Safety Seats available to families who are in need.
Montana requires alcohol server training from a state-approved program for anyone serving or selling alcohol within 60 days of being hired and renewal training every three years.
Drive Safe Missoula
Drive Safe Missoula in building a safer community on our roads! As the proud home of the Missoula County DUI Task Force and the Missoula County Buckle Up Montana Coalition, we're dedicated to creating a future where everyone arrives home safely. Aligned with Montana's Vision Zero initiative, we're working towards zero serious injuries and deaths on our roadways. Through education, supporting law enforcement, and raising awareness, we're tackling impaired driving and promoting the proper use of seatbelts and child safety seats. Together, we can make Missoula County's roads safer for everyone.
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The lead agency for Drive Safe Missoula is the Missoula Public Health
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Drive Safe Missoula is supported by funding provided by the Montana Department of Transportation (MDOT).
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Learn more about the History of Drive Safe Missoula here.
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Please check out and support all of our partners who have been working hard to keep Missoula a safer place to live.
Drive Safe Missoula
Partners
Why We Need You!
Lives lost on Montana Roadways As of
August 26, 2025
compared to 129
roadway fatalities
for this same time period in 2023
120
71
Impaired Driving*
69
Behaviors that contributed to the fatalities
Improper Restraint*
120
Motorists*
15
Motorcyclists*
11
Pedestrians*
0
2024 Montana Roadway Fatalities
Bicyclists*
Previous Years - Total Fatalities
2019 - 184
2020 - 213
2021 - 239
2022 - 213
2023 - 208
*Unconfirmed Factors: this information is taken from Montana Highway Patrol crash data. These investigations remain ongoing. The data and contributing factors should be viewed as preliminary only and are subject to change.
CONTACT
Inquiries
For any inquiries, questions, comments, or requests please feel free to email or call:
Steve Schmidt
Senior Community Health Specialist
Drive Safe Missoula Coordinator
406-258-3880
Drive Safe Missoula
World Headquarters
301 W. Alder
Missoula, MT 59802
