These Laws are a joke. The Insurance companies lobbying the states and state acquiesces. Make it a parents choice!

Amen to the seat belt for school buses idea. How in the world have they gotten away without requiring them???

All parents do not put their children in booster seats, therefore they cannot be trusted to make that judgment. As far as the article states, that parents that cannot afford to buy booster seats, that is laughable. I bought one at Target for $15. Isn't it better to spend the money on your child's safety than any of the other junk parents buy all the time? It's about priorities.

My question is for the 8 year olds, as I am a parent of a child who has not been in a booster for a little over a year. This article plainly states that on a child's 4th birthday, they progress to a booster style seat. But is the booster seat a mute point on the child's 8th birthday or do they use it until their 9th birthday?

Good question from "new booster law". Most 8 year olds are nowhere near 4'9" tall so if they turn 8 and get moved out of the booster seat, they are still not tall enough to properly sit in the car's seat with their feet resting on the floor. I have an almost 8 year daughter and she is only about 50 inches tall. She most certainly doesn't fit in the seat without a booster. While I totally agree with the new law, there will be a large number of children that turn 8, move out of their booster and will not be properly restrained because they are still not tall enough. It really should be based on age AND height.

I think it should be mandatory for everyone outside their home to wear a helmet. Think of how many lives that would save!

Certainly, everything can be made safer. Heck, adult-sized five-point harness car seats would protect better than a three-point belt. Helmets for everyone in cars would save more people than motorcycle helmet laws save.

There’s a reason race car drivers are use these.

But there’s also a reason why the rest of us don’t.

I think it's redic.ulous that this is even being debated. We're not talking about extreme measures such as people wearing helmets outside the home. We're talking about safely securing kids into a car. The problem is not just that a seatbelt alone isn't "good enough," the problem is that these seatbelts are designed for adults and can actually cause internal damage to a child in a crash! If you're too lazy to strap your kid into a booster seat (which, by the way, still uses a seatbelt and therefor takes no additional time) than I feel sorry for your kids!

My driving is a heck of alot safer than the kids whos parents ride around smoking cigaretes with the windows up!! Maybe the state should have to issue vouchers to pay for booster seats. Maybe putting a cost on every law the state pushes down the publics throat will make the state think before always pushing more laws on the people.

When are citizens finally going to have enough of the goverment getting too big for our own good. Every day more and more freedoms erode away. The question isn't safe kids- everybody wants safe kids. Let people make their own decisions and judgments. Don't roll me in bubble wrap and leave me in a padded room. Every car is different. Every kid is diifferent. We do not need a one-size fits all rule. This is simply ridiculous.

Yay! I love having the government micro-manage my life! "Do it for the kids," the rallying cry for almost all legislation that restricts freedoms. Hard to argue against the kids! I'm sure this legislation was drafted for the benefit of the children and had nothing to do with the billions of dollars that will be generated as a result.

I have 2 daughters and will not obay the new law. I am so sick of the goverment trying to act like they are so smart. If indeed the goverment was so bright we would not be going into a depression. They can make all the laws they want, but I see this as being at my own discression. I repeat they will wear the seatbelt but not any stupid booster--the end!

I was in an accident not too long ago because someone "pulled out in front of me" (he was cited) and I had no control over it because I had no where to go, but hit him and after I saw what the seatbelt did to me, my son WILL sit in a booster until he is tall enough to get out of it. He is 8 years old right now and 4ft 3 and the seatbelt in our car goes right across his throat without it. If we were in wreck I would hate to think what that seatbelt would do to him. Use some common sense because believe it not all the laws aren't made to get your money. Some of them are created to save your life and your kids lives!!!!!!!!!!! KEEP YOUR KIDS SAFE AND PUT THEM IN BOOSTER BECAUSE YOU DON'T WANT THAT SEATBELT GOING ACROSS THEIR THROAT BECAUSE IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN IN A WRECK YOU JUST DON'T KNOW... and I want you to think about that every time your kids are in the car and you look back and that seatbelt isn't laying where it is supposed to be like it is on you because I'm sure it isn't going across your throat!

So my nine year old will now need to get back into a booster seat because he is only 4' 3", yet he rides the school bus everyday without a seatbelt or booster seat. What sense does this make? My son was dropped off the bus with a gash in his head that required stitches from his school bus. I am more concerned about this!

I agree with the seatbelt law. If parents exercised common sense, laws like this wouldnt have to be written. Its unfortunate that we've become such an over governed society... but its because of parents and people who do whatever they please because they can. And there's no law to stop them. How many times have you or heard others say "Well its not illegal! If it were so important there would be a law for it!" This is OUR fault as a society!!! instead of us keeping our children in booster seats because its obviously the best thing for them, we take them out early because the law says we can. There are guidelines and suggestions from experts about how we should use carseats (rear facing guidelines, forward facing guidelines, booster guidelines) but we don't listen to those!! We only listen to "at 4 they can get out!" We are a society that wants the easy way out and we want to just do enough to get by! And unfortunately for the children they can't tell us when we are wrong.

So although I disagree with there being so many laws.... I completely agree that children should be in carseats until they are much older! Its absolutely safer and no one can argue that it is not!! Even small women should consider boosting themselves up in a car because the seatbelts are designed for taller people. Use common sense!!! and dont be afraid to do the right thing.... even if it goes against what the herd is doing!

i think it is fun to be in a booster seat it is safer,easier to see and funer and if you dont the seatbelt it keeps covering your throught and eye. I am 9 but still have the seatbelt covering my throught and eye so after tax season i will be in a booster it is much safer. plus i can see better out of the car window . iT IS ALSO NOT FOR JUST BABIES! kids with boosters are safer and they look tall out the window kids might want booster seats so they look tall and do not look like a seatbelt is in thier way it also is safe so they do not get hurt from the seat belt. plus a kid that can not see out the window might not see a car coming about to crash. but they might be able to make a new design of car . 3 adultsin front with adult made seat belts and seats. 6 Seats near back with special seats that look more like boosters but built in and does not look look like boosters it just makes higher than the adult seats and a head rest right near the kids head with a special seat belt that does not choke them

Has any body ever tried to put 3 booster seats accross the back of ANY car, truck, or SUV? It doesn't fit. If you can mannage to squeeze the seats in, guess where the buckles are? Behind the booster. This leaves the booster not touching the back of the seat. From what I've read proper instalation requires the booster to be snug to the back of the seat. I Drive an Expedition currently and a Crown Victoria in the recient past. If I can't fit them into a vehicle that size what are the people with smaller cars goning to do?

they should make the law that any child under 4'10 has to have a booster seat. Even if they're 15 or something. I say saftey first.

Well, I'd heard that it was *strongly recommended* before this law that a child age 4-8 should stay in the booster seat. So I kept it--for safety reasons. My son will be 8 in December, then bye-bye booster seat. He's starting to outgrow it and he's not quite 4 feet tall...something like 3'11.5". The top of his booster is at about the middle of the back of his head. He's had the thing since he was born...it's the kind that converts from rear-facing to forward-facing to booster.

Now, that being said--it should be up to the parents. Let parents make an informed decision--say, "this is what can happen if you do this or don't do that." And let the parents decide based on the information.

I buckle up my son every single time not because of a law, but because I care about his safety and I feel that he should use the booster until age 8. He does not sit in the front of my minivan because I have airbags...he sits in the middle row, and I have the child safety locks on both sliding doors engaged. And he sits on the passenger side so he doesn't kick my seat and distract me.

He should be okay with this booster until December. I think the one in my husband's car has a higher back...I can use that if necessary.

how do i find a booster like the first pic?!

we have 3 kids so we're a family of 5- can't fit three boosters in the back seat of any car, so this law essentially means we *have to buy a larger vehicle ie minivan or van, which is a lot more expensive to buy and maintain than our economic full- size Toyota Matrix. I love my kids but this is crazy. The auto manufacturers should make modular seats so children will automatically fit into the seat belt configuration the cost shouldn't be passed on to the parents to fit their kids into the car. Just more evidence that our country is not family friendly.

When I was pregnant with my first child, I spoke with some paramedics. They were in passing at my job but took the time to make sure that I was well educated about infant car seats. They also said that I should not put my children in booster seats because they cause children to dislocate their hips. The better answer...they make little tools that slip onto the car seat belt that moves the shoulder strap away from the throat. They said to use those because in low speed crashes where the child would have been fine, the parents were stuck with the agony of their child in pain from disconnected hips and the bill to pay afterwards.

Uh, I have a question... what about adults who are below the stated sizes??? I am 4'9" my brilliant six year old knows this and has asked if I will have to drive in a booster seat myself...

i would assume that when most of the people commenting on here were children their parents did not put them into car seats or booster seats when they were in the car, and we all survived. my kids have been out of their boosters for 2 years now and now i have to put them back in? i don't think so. this is a ridiculous law, and as the poster above states you can get a latch for the seat belt to move it down over the shoulder, and that is all that is needed.

The way my backseat is, the booster seat covers the seat belt, so my son can't even buckle or unbuckle it. God forbid we were in an accident that I needed to get him out in a hurry! I am not looking forward to dealing with this stupid booster seat for the next 3 years. Before to long anyone under 4'9" are going to have to have a booster! I have seen 6 year old's who are not that tall, but weigh as much as some teens, so are they going to start making plus size car seats? I am all about safety for my kid, but 8 years old come on!! He is 4 and 40lbs and has done fine in a regular seat! I still put his seat belt on him and it is still holding him back.