Mandatory booster seat laws proposed

By: Drivers.com staff

Date: Thursday, 05. May 2011

U.S. Senator Peter G. Fitzgerald (R-Illinois) has introduced legislation to encourage states to adopt mandatory booster seat laws, hoping to reduce the number of traffic fatalities and injuries to young children. Designed specifically to help standard adult seatbelts fit children better, booster seats are used to protect children who have outgrown their car seats but are still too small to fit properly in an adult-sized safety belt. They work to help reduce the risk of what experts call "lap belt syndrome"-instances in which improperly-fitting seatbelts themselves actually cause serious injury to children in car crashes instead of protecting them. In some crashes, for example, the shoulder belt that cuts across a child's neck-instead of her torso-and the lab belt that rides high on her abdomen cause severe internal injuries to her liver, spleen, intestines, and spinal cord, Fitzgerald said.

"We know booster seats save lives, yet the overwhelming majority of states do not require them," Fitzgerald noted. "Only four states-Arkansas, California, Washington, and South Carolina-have adopted mandatory booster seat laws, and recent attempts to pass meaningful legislation in other states, including my home state of Illinois, have failed."