New Child Seat Requirements for Ohio Parents

Often in child custody cases, issues are raised regarding the manner in which a child is being transported and whether it complies with state law regarding appropriate child safety restraints. In many cases, parents have a basic understanding of what the bare legal requirements are, but little or no knowledge of what precautions the experts recommend above and beyond what the law requires. As a result, studies show that a very small percentage of parent use booster seats in transporting children between the ages of four and seven.

In Ohio, legislation has been passed to legally require the use of booster seats for children in the four to seven age group. On January 6, 2009, Governor Strickland signed Amended House Bill 320 into effect making significant changes to Ohio's child safety seat requirements.

Although some members of the House and Senate viewed the additional requirement as an unnecessary infringement on individual liberties, several child safety and transportation groups came out in active support of the bill.

Under our current law, Ohio is one of only a few states for which child restraint laws are standard for all children under the age of eight. Under current Ohio law, an appropriate car seat is required for any child who is under the age of four or weighs less than 40 lbs.. Under the amendments contained in the bill, Ohio parents would also be required to have any child under the age of eight who is shorter than 4'9" tall in a properly installed booster seat which complies with Federal motor vehicle safety standards. The violation of this requirement is still a secondary offense meaning that a driver cannot be pulled over just for not having the booster seat.

Colorado, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania, are states which are also viewed by child safety groups as deficient in their child restraint laws; However, Ohio was singled out and chastised recently by the National Transportation Safety Board for our lack of a booster seat requirement for the 4 to 7 age group. Further, the absence of a primary offense for failure to properly restrain children with booster seats in the 4 to 7 age group has been cited as a central obstacle to millions in Federal grant money which would otherwise be available to Ohio.

According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, appropriate booster seats are used by only a small percentage of the drivers and booster seats are extremely effective in reducing injuries in crashes involving children ages four to seven years old. In support, the Foundation cites research by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia indicating that children in this age category who were seated in booster seats were 59% less likely to suffer serious injury in crashes than those who were restrained using only a seat belt.

For help in finding and evaluating car seats and booster seats, an excellent guide can be found at http://www.thenewparentsguide.com/choosing-a-car-seat.htm. For more information concerning this and other issues affecting the rights and obligations of parents in Ohio, feel free to visit the author at http:www.midohiodivorce.com