Booster Seat and Car Seat Laws Help Save Lives
Seat belts save lives in car accidents, but they are not designed for children. Beginning at around age 4, many children are too large for toddler seats but too small for adult safety belts. However, because many State laws only require children to be in a safety seat up to age 4 or so, many parents assume older kids are safe in just an adult safety belt. This is not true. From age four to age eight, the safest way for children to ride in automobiles is in the back seat in a booster seat. However, statistics show that less than one out of every five kids between the ages of four and eight is riding in a booster seat. Sadly, there are approximately 350 children ages 4 to 8 who die every year in automobile crashes, and half of those children are not in booster seats.
While booster seat use has increased in recent years, there is obviously improvement still to be made. One study estimates that booster seat use in the United States range from only 10 to 20 percent, leaving the vast majority of booster-age children at risk. Fortunately, after declaring that booster seat use is dangerously low in the United States, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced a new federal initiative that would provide $25 million over the next four years to states that pass and enforce new or tougher booster seat laws. As a result, nearly every state has now passed some kind of child booster seat law.
As children grow, how they sit in your car should change as follows:
1) Rear Facing Seats – Children from birth to at least one year old and at least 20 pounds should ride in the back seat in rear facing seats.
2) Forward-Facing Toddler Seats – children from age one and twenty pounds to age 4 and 40 pounds should ride in the back seat in forward-facing toddler seats.
3) Booster Seats – Children from age four to age eight should ride in the back seat in booster seats, until 4’9’’ tall.
4) Safety Belts – Children age eight or older or taller than 4’9’’ should be secured in a safety belt and all children age 12 and under should ride in the back seat to avoid injury from air bags.
Sadly, there are too many accidents where children are killed or seriously injured because they were not seatbelted properly. We ask everyone to study the children seat belt laws for their state and follow them.
