Florida Child Injury Law Blog

What: Child Injury with Booster Seats

Photo from Tampa Tribune

In a recent article by the Tampa Tribune, Florida,  1 of 3 states who don’t require booster seats for infants, could rethink this situation in a  newly proposed bill  which will  ticket those who don’t use one. Thad Altman’s bill would mandate car booster seats for children ages 4 to 7 or those under 4 feet 9 inches tall.

A booster seat’s primary purpose is to secure a child in the seat while helping the seat belt fit correctly in the booster seat. This tightly secures the child in the seat to prevent injury. 

Car crashes are the leading cause of death for children in the United States. In Florida, 35 child passengers younger than 10 died in crashes in 2008 -an additional 7,754 were injured.

The Journal of the American Medical Association published a report in 2003 showing that children in that age group were 59 percent less likely to suffer an injury in a car crash if they were in a booster seat rather than only wearing a seat belt.

Florida has a dubious distinction- being one of just three states who does not require booster seats – a distinction that is hopefully going to change!