Parents of 4 and 5 year olds....new law goes into effect

[LATJLP]

New law goes into effect starting January 1:

In Florida, all children aged 4 and 5 will be required to sit in a child safety seat or booster seat instead of using just a car seat belt.

 

[Marla1106]

My 9 year old is still in a booster. He's still not tall enough based on our states laws to be out of the booster, he needs a 1/2 inch more. I did not realize that wasn't the same everywhere.

 

[princessap]

I am glad to hear this change….we are much stricter up here on our carseat guidelines and it always made me nervous that 4./5 year olds in florida didn't need seats

 

[Holly Quinlan]

wow always assumed It was already law. My 5 year old is still in a car seat. we had to take a van from WL to the poly last year to make an early breakfast ADR and we didn't have a car seat. Scared me to death and it was only across the street

 

[Mikie]

I thought a lots of states did by height/weight not by age. We used to be height/weight but changed a couple years ago to age. It's 4 to first be IN a booster (vs full car seat) and have to be in it thru age 8! I guess buses don't count, though?

 

[kmb584]

I thought a lots of states did by height/weight not by age. We used to be height/weight but changed a couple years ago to age. It's 4 to first be IN a booster (vs full car seat) and have to be in it thru age 8! I guess buses don't count, though?

Buses don't count.

 

[3PrincessesAndaFrog]

Wow...it took them long enough.

 

[PeterPanic]

wow always assumed It was already law. My 5 year old is still in a car seat. we had to take a van from WL to the poly last year to make an early breakfast ADR and we didn't have a car seat. Scared me to death and it was only across the street

I know that this is a serious consideration, but, I can't help but think back to the days when I was a kid. Car seats, like we know them now, did not exist. In fact, seat belts didn't exist. I remember the car seat that my sister sat in as a child. It had hook style back brackets that draped over the FRONT seat back and that was the only method of securing them. It faced forward and had a plastic steering wheel right in front of your face so you could pretend to be steering the car. I used to love that feature.

It was bad enough with a four door, but, imagine that with a two door car with seats that folded forward. They didn't have any latch on them to stop them from doing just that if you had to stop fast.

Once you grew out of the car seat (about age 2) you were then made like the rest of the passengers and just sat on the seat. (remember no seat belts) If the child was normal sized (small) they would usually just fold their legs under them to lift them up a few inches so they could see out the window or lay across the shelf behind the back seat just in front of the rear window. Yet, I know of no one ever injured by that little situation. I know that there must have been but I never knew any personally.

The only real constraint that you had was your parents arm that was placed in front of you during a fast stop to prevent you from flying through the front windshield. Ah, the good old days.

 

[NYCMom21]

Yeah, cars went a lot slower back then and the only reason we all survived was probably because we didn't crash.

I'm shocked this is only now just a law. Motor Vehicle accidents are the number 1 cause of death for children.

 

[rideswithchrist]

My 4 YO is still in a 5-point harness and my 7YO is still in a high-back booster, barely 40 lbs and 44".

That is law in Texas anyway, they have to be in a booster until 54" and/or 50lbs.

 

[wendow]

My 6yo is in a 5-point harness still. He is 42lbs and 46 ins. His Britax holds up to 65lbs. He'll outgrow by length long before weight. So he is staying put in that seat for now.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Wow, I never knew it was so young.

Here it is 8 years old or 80 lbs to be able to ride without a booster.

 

[PeterPanic]

Yeah, cars went a lot slower back then and the only reason we all survived was probably because we didn't crash.

I'm shocked this is only now just a law. Motor Vehicle accidents are the number 1 cause of death for children.

Actually cars were not any slower (I'm not that old) they still would cruise along at 70 or 80 miles per hour (and more) but you are correct we survived because we didn't crash and we probably didn't crash because there were fewer cars on the roads back then. Most of the highways were two lane (one in each direction) with lower speed limits. But, when they did crash it was usually spectacular and very few people survived a major accident.

I'm glad they changed things now, I feel a lot safer and feel that my grandchildren are much safer then we ever were. It just seems to be so contrary to how we first experienced it.

Florida probably was a little slower to enact the law because of it's overwhelming quantities of older retiree's. They had no need for car seats, so it wasn't considered a priority. People coming into the state with children probably didn't realize that it wasn't required in Florida and just brought their stuff with them and used it. I'm not sure why it would be necessary to make it a law, one would think that it is a no brainer to just use the equipment to keep everyone safe and not have to legislate it. I guess there is no limit on just how stupid people can be.

My Mother, as she aged, got quite a bit shorter and she only started at 60 inches when she was young. By the time she reached the age of 80 she, by law, was required to use a booster seat when riding with someone else. She refused to do it and just challenged them to arrest her and put her in jail. She would prefer to go to jail then deal with the humiliation of a booster seat. They even had to have an off switch to the air bags because in order to drive she was so close to the steering wheel that they felt that if the air bag was deployed she would be more likely to be killed by that, then she would in a low speed accident. High speed either one would have been fatal.

 

[bumbershoot]

Yeah, cars went a lot slower back then and the only reason we all survived was probably because we didn't crash.

You hit the nail right on the head there.

I slept in the "way back", I sneakily undid my lap belt in the bucket seats of our Pinto station wagon (not the exploding coupe kind) while mom drove us home from San Francisco, my dad once put me on his lap and let me steer his Ford pickup in traffic.

I survived.

Because we didn't have a crash.

If we'd had one, this wouldn't be written.

My husband was held on his mom's lap while driving cross country.

He survived.

Because they didn't have a crash.



Florida is just the weirdest state because they overprotect some citizens (you should see their licensing laws for various healthcare providers) and underprotect everyone else (small children, for one).

My guy is tall, and only fit into the seatbelt of our car (without risk of decapitation if he hit the seatbelt hard) at 9ish. he still didn't fit into ALL seatbelts, so we brought the bubblebum booster with us when cars were being rented, depending on how he fit.

The idea of 5 year olds fitting into seatbelts properly (when I barely do at under average height for an American female) would be laughable if it weren't so scary.

 

[Burnedout]

Yeah, cars went a lot slower back then and the only reason we all survived was probably because we didn't crash. I'm shocked this is only now just a law. Motor Vehicle accidents are the number 1 cause of death for children.

Cars went a lot faster back when I was a kid.

 

[staceyeileen]

Even the new FL law doesn't make any distinction between a 5-point harness car seat and a booster seat, which is crazy. I see kids moved into a booster way too early around here. Also, there is an exception if the driver of the car is not an immediate member of the child's family.

 

[madelyn]

My 4 YO is still in a 5-point harness and my 7YO is still in a high-back booster, barely 40 lbs and 44".

That is law in Texas anyway, they have to be in a booster until 54" and/or 50lbs.

I live in Texas and I thought the law was that once a child turned 8 years old, they no longer had to be in a booster. I know the sensible thing to do is to keep the child in the seat much longer.

 

[Dis703]

New law goes into effect starting January 1:

In Florida, all children aged 4 and 5 will be required to sit in a child safety seat or booster seat instead of using just a car seat belt.

I thought the law read until they reach 4'9" or something like that. So once they were done with a carseat they needed to use a booster until they reached that height.

I hadn't realized Florida was so far behind in car seat laws. It's at least 8 and 80 here in NJ and even then not all kids safely fit in a seatbelt by that time.

My oldest is 6 and just moved to a high back booster because he outgrew his carseat by height maybe 6 months ago.

 

[Dis703]

Even the new FL law doesn't make any distinction between a 5-point harness car seat and a booster seat, which is crazy. I see kids moved into a booster way too early around here. Also, there is an exception if the driver of the car is not an immediate member of the child's family.

I noticed that exception as well and thought it was ridiculous. So if it's mom or dad yes they have to be in a booster/carseat but for anyone else no requirement. Nice that kid's safety is of the upmost importance here.

I see a lot of parents moving kids to boosters too soon as well. My neighbor put her tiny 3 year old in a backless booster because her carseat was too big to fit after she had another baby. And at the same time she just stopped putting her 5 year old in a booster at all. Law is to 8 or 80lbs here. He's nowhere near either.

 

[Aurora0427]

I'm totally judging, but geez Florida. How is this now just becoming law? Wowza