Reader comments
New booster-seat law in effect May 5

The legislators are idiots! Didn't pass the law for safety of the children's lungs being protected from their smoke addicted parents, but will for car seats? Doesn't sound consistent for their "PROPERTY RIGHTS" bologna they say that parents have. What next govenment intrusion in the car? Legislators aren't sure which way is up! Idiots!

My grandmother would have been 70 yrs old and in a car seat....she only made it to 4'8". So why don't we just say everyone has to have a booster seat, regardless of age! This is getting ridiculous! My daughter has been so excited to finally move up to a booster seat, feels like she is a big girl. Now I have to tell her some idiots passed a law that says she is still a baby (until she's 8) and has to go back to her car seat. Start passing laws that do some good!

Studies show that children who live in states where booster seats are mandatory are less severely injured in car crashes and are more likely to survive. That's why this law is very important and very pro-child. A child's embarrassment at sitting in a booster doesn't count for much when you consider the alternative. Children who are under 4'7" and wear adult seat belts suffer severe abdominal and spinal cord injuries in crashes because the lap belt rides up on their abdomen instead of low over their hips. And the shoulder belt rides across the torso incorrectly as well. Simply put - the booster seat makes the seat belt work. I've certainly heard my own children complain that they hate "looking like a baby" in their booster seats. I say I'd rather have a live, embarrassed baby than a dead one or one in a wheelchair - and a booster seat ups the odds considerably.

Yet another minute risk that should be managed by parents, not the government.

Also, why can't car manufacturers simply make height-adjustable seat belts in the rear seats where children are likely to be sitting? Seems feasible to me, but maybe it wold be cost prohibitive.

I for one am grateful for the new law. My youngest children are 7 and 10 and have been riding in car seats their entire lives. They don't question me. They know I am the mom and I am doing what is safest for them. They have never been picked on for being in a booster seat. There have been questions from friends about why they use one, but we answer them and life goes on.

My 10 year old uses a backless booster that cost me all of $10.00. That $10.00 just might save her life someday. Automobile crashes are the #1 killer of children. Why wouldn't I do all I could to protect my own children and those children who ride in my vehicle? For those parents whose kids are embarassed by needing a booster seat, consider the alternative. An embarassed child is much better then a severely injured(or worse!) child. A crash can happen in the blink of an eye, wouldn't you want YOUR child as safe as possible should a crash happen? Booster seat: $10.00. My child's life? PRICELESS!

Isn't this more of an economic boost to the manufacturers of booster seats? Whether a child is safe or not depends more on the adult strapping them in and driving than having a booster. I have yet to see any real stats showing the booster is better. I hear theories etc. but no real facts. Goes back to the original reason seats belts were made into a law. It wasn't based on real facts, it was on creating a crisis mentality to the public. In the end law makers could feel good and manufacturers had job insurance. I was there and saw the facts, seat belts only save lives 40% of the time. Car design made a difference, not the restraints. Too bad the facts are always missing in reports....

Response to LEE

You state that "studies show...". Do you have references for the studies that you claim here. Also what were the population sizes for the studies.

I have a daughter who just turned 8 years old. She is not excited about riding in a booster seat. She is not yet 4' 9" but she has a long body (takes after me) and here head already comes quite aways on the head rest (without a booster seat). If I were to use a booster seat her head would go over the booster seat and she would have a greater chance of getting whiplash.

This is something of government intrusion that I am not happy about. I have never been happy about the seatbelt law. I feel that laws should make sure that we do not infringe on the rights of others and that it should be our own responsibility to protect ourselves. I personally would wear a seatbelt in particular on high speed freeways (and did so before the seatbelt law took effect) but feel that such a law is intruding into space where I should be able to make the decision.

I am very frustrated with this law. I have been helping a family in my neighborhood with a new baby by taking their three older children to school with mine in the mornings and now I cannot, I would have to have a car seat for one of my daughters and two for their kids and then I would have to return to their home and mine to drop off the car seats before I could pick up the children to go to the jr. high and high school. What a joke! I carpool with several neighbors for kindergarten and can no longer do that either. So now instead of one vehicle traveling to the school there will be five.
There are several issues that I don't think people realize when laws such as this are passed; carpools to school, parents dropping and picking up children from daycare, the impact financially on families with the added costs of carseats, fuel, and a larger car that can accomodate several carseats. While I believe people lobbying for this think they are 'saving' children, this is an infringement on my rights as a parent. This is an anti-family law.

I'm a surgical nurse. I see your children when they come into surgery and we have put them back together. And they are the lucky ones. I'm wondering why this law was necessary. I always used a booster till the recommended age for my five children. It wasn't embarrassing, financially difficult, or inconvenient. My job as a mom was protecting my most valuable possessions. They are all alive and well and in their 20's now. Would anyone ever look back on their life and say, "Wow, that was a dumb thing to put them into booster seats- I'm so sorry I did that."

I will do anything to protect my little boy, a booster seat until the recommended age is exactly what he gets.