Booster Seats Are Making A Come-back In California
Many new state laws take effect Jan. 1. One of them aims to save the lives of children by raising the requirements for booster seats.
Ryder Corral turned 6 years old in October and that meant he didn’t need a booster seat to ride in the car but, changes to the Child Safety Seat Law say that as of Jan. 1 children will have to be at least 8 years old or be 4 feet 9 inches tall to ride without one.
He is still getting used to the idea.
“I’m not happy about it,” said Ryder.
His mother Julie says it hasn’t been easy getting ready for the change.
“I’ve mentioned it to him, he seems a little disappointed but I think he’ll be OK if he knows it’s for his safety,” said Corral.
Brenda Rincon is the mother of an 11-year old.
“It’s gonna make it that much tougher for parents especially when they may have been out of the car seat for a while,” said Rincon.
Her daughter Sarah says she didn’t like being in the car seat when she had to do it.
“I would always try to convince my mom to let me go out of the car seat,” said Sarah.
But that didn’t change her mother’s mind.
“I stuck to the rules when my daughter was under age and needed to be in a car seat. Better safe than sorry,” said Rincon.
Currently children who weigh more than 60 pounds or are at least 6 years old don’t need to be in a booster seat. The new requirements will impact more than 1 million children in the state.
The California office of traffic safety says that the changes will increase the chance of surviving a crash by 45 percent. And if you get caught not following the new rules, you could pay a hefty fine, more than $475 and a violation point on your driving record.
Officer Joe Zagorski is with the California Highway Patrol.
“The law is in effect the first and we’ll start writing tickets on the first,” said Zagorski.
For Ryder Corral the change may be tough but his mother says safety is first.
“Bottom line is as long as you tell them it’s for safety and it’s the law, they really can’t back out of that,” said Corral.
