State by State Booster Seat Usage Requirements
As of October 22, 2009, 47 States and the District of Columbia had enacted provisions in their child restraint laws requiring the use of a booster seat or other appropriate restraint device by children who have outgrown their forward-facing child safety seats, but who are still too small to use an adult seat belt system safely. Only Arizona, Florida, and South Dakotahave yet to enact booster seat use requirements.
Specific provisions vary widely from State to State, including the upper age limit, and height and/or weight requirements.
Four States enacted booster seat use requirements in 2009: Alaska, Minnesota, Ohio and Texas. Minnesota requires that children ride in a child safety seat or booster until they are eight years old or 4'9" tall; this provision took effect on July 1, 2009. Ohio's requirement — which stipulates booster seat by children ages 4 through 7 years who weigh 40 pounds or more and who are shorter than 57 inches tall—took effect on October 7, 2009. The Alaska and Texas requirements mandate that children between the ages of four and eight and less than 4'9" tall must use a booster seat in passenger vehicles. The Alaska provision took effect on September 15, 2009 and the Texas requirement took effect on September 1, 2009.
Twenty-three States and Washington, D.C. qualified for special Federal funding in 2009 under the Section 2011 incentive grant program. Those jurisdictions are: Alaska, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
According to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, children seated in a belt-positioning booster seat in the rear of the car are 45 percent less likely to be injured in a crash compared with children using a seat belt alone. Children riding in booster seats involved in side-impact crashes saw the greatest reduction in injury risk. The study results will be published in the November 2009 issue of Pediatrics.
Visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for additional details on the provisions of State child restraint laws.
Source: NHTSA Occupant Protection Division, October 22, 2009
