Safety seat laws
Author: By Kathleen O’Connor

Only recently, while talking with my daughter about how she buckles her new Maryland baby into a car safety seat, did I learn how her Michigan grandparents transported her in the back of their car in the 1970s when she visited them: buckled in with my mother! She was then about 5 years old.
“If we had hit anything, Grandma’s weight would have cut me in two,” she relates.
Luckily, today’s laws make car safety seats a must.
Here’s what the transportation offices in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia mandate:

In West Virginia, all children younger than 8 must ride in federally approved, properly installed car seats or booster seats. Children up to 1 year old or 35 pounds must be in an infant-only, rear-facing seat or convertible seat in a rear-facing position. These must always be used in the rear seat, never in the front, where an airbag could suffocate a baby. The seat must be secured by a safety belt or by the LATCH system at a 45-degree angle. The harness clip must be at armpit level.
Those ages 1 to 4 years and weighing 20 to 40 pounds must be in a convertible seat facing forward, a car seat that only faces forward or a high-back booster seat with a harness. The harness straps must be at or above a child’s shoulders and the clip must be at armpit level. Those ages 4 to 8 must be transported in the rear seat in a belt-positioning booster seat with no back or a high-back belt-positioning booster seat. The lap belt must fit snugly across the lap and upper thigh area, never across the stomach. Always use both the lap and shoulder belts. Never tuck the shoulder belt behind a child’s back or under his arm.
If a child is 4 to 8 years old but taller than 57 inches, using adult lap and shoulder belts in the back seat is permissible.
“If all seat belts in a vehicle are being used at the time of examination by a law officer and the vehicle contains more passengers than the total number of seat belts or other safety devices as installed in compliance with federal motor vehicle safety standards, the driver shall not be considered as violating this section,” according to the West Virginia Department of Transportation.

In Virginia, those younger than 8 must ride in federally approved car seats or booster seats. Those ages 8 to 15 must be properly restrained in a federally approved child safety seat, booster seat or seat belt, no matter where in the vehicle they ride. Drivers are responsible for making sure all passengers are properly restrained or buckled, and officers can stop vehicles if children up to age 16 are improperly restrained.

In Maryland, all children younger than 6, regardless of weight, and all those weighing less than 40 pounds, regardless of age, must ride in a federally approved car seat or booster seat that properly fits the child for his or her age, weight and height. All children younger than 16 must wear seat belts and may not ride in open truck beds.
If your vehicle is registered in another state but you are traveling in Maryland, you must follow Maryland age and weight guidelines.
The safest place to buckle your child is in the middle of the rear seat. However, if you are transporting a baby in a rear-facing child safety seat, you must turn off the side air bags, for they are prohibited in such cases. Children younger than 13, lighter than 100 pounds or shorter than 5 feet must never ride in the front seat while the side air bags are turned on.

Sidebar

From the National Transportation Safety Board (www.ntsb.gov):
From 1996 to 2005, more than 3,800 passengers ages 4 to 8 died in traffic crashes. More than 85 percent of them were unrestrained or improperly restrained in an adult seat belt.
Children restrained only by seat belts are 3.5 times more likely to suffer abdominal injuries and 4 times more likely to suffer head injuries than those properly restrained in a booster seat.
Currently, 33 states lack laws requiring that children ages 4 to 8 use booster seats.
In 2006, when adults buckled up, 87 percent of children also buckled up; however, when adults did not buckle up, 58 percent of children also did not buckle up.

From www.gm.com/corporate/responsibility/reports/06/300_company/6_sixty/360.html):
General Motors and Safe Kids Worldwide (formerly the National Safe Kids Campaign) have a 10-year partnership to implement the Safe Kids Buckle Up program, which addresses a significant pubic health problem in the United States.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among ages 3 to 14. In 2003, nearly 1,600 children ages 14 and younger died and an estimated 220,000 were taken to emergency rooms with injuries from motor vehicle crashes.
Properly used child safety seats can reduce the risk of death by as much as 71 percent. Nevertheless, nearly 73 percent of child seats are not installed or used correctly.

The National Health and Transportation Safety Board Web site (www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cps/cpsfitting/Index.cfm) lists child safety seat inspection stations where seats can be checked for proper installation.

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