My daughter will be turning 8 soon. In Texas, booster seats are only required until age 5 and 36 inches tall. We recently told her that she could get out of her booster seat on her birthday.
I thought I'd check some state laws as we're planning our trip north. (We're now headed to Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota!) I found a map with state booster seat laws and realized many states require kids to be 80 pounds or 57 inches or 8 years old... or all 3 like Wisconsin!
So, I was wondering... what are your state laws and do you follow them or make your child wait longer? Or how do you decide when your child is big enough to get out of the booster seat? I'm now thinking about waiting until she meets all 3 requirements... which will be quite a while.
Monday, September 08, 2008
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8 comments:
In Washington state it's 4'9" or 8 years old. My son will be 5 next month and he's 45" tall, so we have quite a while. :-)
By the way, I've rediscovered your blog and I love it! I've started my own recently (since I just started kindergarten with my son) and I'm hoping it turns out as great as yours. You've definitely been an inspiration. :-)
Christina
In Louisiana the laws are 6 years or 60 lbs. My two older daughters do not need one, but my little one still uses her booster seat. She has met the age limit, but not the weight so we "choose" to have her still use hers. Have a wonderful trip and I think that it is wonderful that you are planning such a safe trip.
In Virginia, no matter the weight, any child under 8 years of age must be in a booster/car seat. And it is also mandatory until age 15 that they use a booster seat or a seat belt no matter where they sit in a car.
I know that in some states there is only a penalty if your front passenger is not wearing a seat belt. But here, all kids have to wear them no matter where they are sitting.
I hope you have a fantastic trip! And take a bunch of pictures to share with us.
Hmmm, I thought Indiana had weight and height requirements too. But everything I looked up today just said 8 years old. I wonder if my SIL knows this, nieces are still in theirs at 9.
I had no idea an eight year old wasn't required to be in a booster seat. I think we'd all feel a little woozy and weepy just have my daughter hop in the car. Safety aside, I'm just no ready for that.
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In Ontario, the law states that a child must be 8 years old, or 80lbs, or a certain height. We have kept my 3 charges in their booster seast much longer than the age of 8, as they were so far off of the height and weight limit - they were tiny. We felt safer keeping them in their seats, and have heard about many crashes where children are injured who should have been in a booster seat and would have avoided their serious injuries had they been in one.
thanks for the reminder and the chart of the states. we leave in a couple weeks for the East coast and are in 3 states with different laws. guess we'll have to pack the booster since D will be under 8. Here in CA it is 6 or 60.
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