September is National Child Passenger Safety
Month. It’s also National Chicken Month, International Update Your Resume
Month, National Piano Month, and about thirty-five other reasons to celebrate.
Even the blueberry popsicle declares September as its month. And don’t get
started on specific weeks and days. Cheese, skyscrapers and telephones all have
their own day. Add them all up and September has 130 supposed holidays. Some of
these are patently ridiculous – National Meow Like a Pirate Day? What? That
doesn’t even make sense. But if you have kids, care for kids, like kids or even
just begrudgingly admit that they are our future, this month has an important
message. Plus it’s a good time to address changes to the law.
Last spring our state updated our child passenger restraint law. Right now some of the parents reading this are
worried that we have a law requiring us to show parental restraint when our
child passengers get too annoying. Have no fear; in this context restraint
refers to car seats, booster seats and seatbelts (although parental restraint
might still be a good practice. I’ll let you make that call.) The new version
of the law takes effect on January 1st, 2020; that gives us a few
months to get educated on what’s in the law and how it affects the way we
transport kids.
Let’s start with a quick review of the current
law. Right now the law says that kids less than eight years old or under four
feet nine inches tall are to be restrained in a child restraint system. After
that they can use a properly adjusted seatbelt. I’m oversimplifying a little,
but that’s about all the guidance you get from the law. Okay, it does add that
you are to follow the manufacturer’s instructions. You can see how the law is
less helpful than it could be in equipping parents, especially considering that
traffic crashes are the number one cause of child fatalities.
The new law provides more guidance for child
caregivers. Also, the guidance is based on the recommendations of the American
Academy of Pediatrics, so it’s not like they’re just making this stuff up. And
now, the new rules:
- Children under the age of two are to be secured
in a rear-facing car seat (and you can keep a kid in a rear-facing seat until
they outgrow it.)
- Children under the age of four are to be secured
in a forward-facing car seat (and they can stay in a forward-facing seat until
they outgrow it.)
- Children under the height of four feet nine
inches are to be secured in a booster seat (and they can stay in a booster seat
as long as it provides a better fit than a regular seatbelt.)
The updated law eliminates a lot of the guesswork for parents and it’s build on solid research, but it does have one change that some kids might not be happy about. I’m thinking of the eight-year-olds who just graduated to using a seatbelt but haven’t reached four feet nine inches tall yet. That’s right, the new law doesn’t have an age when a kid outgrows a booster seat, just a height. That makes sense; seatbelt fit is about size, not age. But I’ll predict that some of the kids who have to go back to the booster seat for a while won’t want to hear about recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics or the size of the ticket mom and dad will get if they don’t use the required child restraint. All I can say is, good luck with that. I’m here to explain traffic laws. I’ll leave it up to the grown-ups in the car to figure out how to implement it. One thing that hasn’t changed in the law: kids under the age of 13 still ride in the back seat whenever practical.
I’ve just hit the highlights of the new law, so you might still have some practical questions about car seats. “What seat will fit best in my car?” “How to I install it?” Or, “I installed my car seat, and I’m pretty sure it’s in wrong. Can somebody help?” It’d be nice if there was an expert you could ask. Fortunately there is. Across our state there are car seat technicians trained to help you get your kid properly secured in your car. You can find one in your area, along with a lot more information about car seats, by visiting wadrivetozero.com/car-seats/. If you think you could use some help, give a car seat tech a call. They’ll be happy to help.