All 50 states have some type of child safety seat law, 28 of which require kids to use child safety seats or booster seats through age 8 to reduce the risk of injuries in car crashes. But the latest C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health finds that while nearly all parents report their kids, ages 5 and younger, use booster seats or car seats while riding in vehicles, use of booster seats drops sharply to 40 percent by age 8.
Dr. Michelle Lea Macy, a pediatric emergency medicine physician and clinical lecturer in the Department of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics and Department of Communicable Diseases, says that while seatbelts are not designed for young kids under 4 feet, 9 inches tall, there are many factors that may account for inconsistent booster seat use as kids age.
“I don’t think it’s surprising to find that kids 7 to 8 aren’t using safety seats any longer,” Macy says. “Parents may think their child is too big to put in a booster seat or that booster seats are baby seats. Laws about booster seat use came into play in the last decade, so parents talking to other parents about what’s safest for their child may not be getting the right information. Using a booster seat until 4-feet-9 is ideal.”
The January poll asked 706 parents with children, ages 4-8, about their use of booster seats and whether or not they know about their state laws regarding booster seats.
Overall, 76 percent of kids, ages 4-8, are using booster seats. However, 51 percent of parents do not know their state booster seat law, and 20 percent think they know the law but are wrong about the age requirement.
Booster seats are known to reduce the risk of injury in car crashes by as much as 50 percent. Yet nearly 200 kids, ages 4-8, need emergency care in the United States each day for injuries suffered in car crashes. And every other day, one of these children dies from those injuries.
In spite of the safety benefits of booster seat use, the poll found that almost half of parents with kids, ages 7-8, say they would not use booster seats if there were no laws.
“The key issue here is safety, regardless of the child’s age. Booster seats improve the way a seatbelt fits a child. It helps lift them up in the cars’ seat so that the lap belt sits low on their thighs and doesn’t ride up on their abdomen,” Macy says. “When kids don’t fit comfortably in seatbelts, it often leads them to wear them improperly … Not wearing the belt properly increases the likelihood of injury in a crash.”
Part of the problem is a lack of up-to-date information for parents so they understand the importance of booster seat use and how to use them properly, Macy says. The best resources for current information are the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and talking with a child’s primary care physician.
