Booster Sear Changes Take Effect Today Are Nanaimo Drivers Ready?

BOOSTER
SEAT CHANGES
TAKE EFFECT
JULY 1ST

B.C. children will be better protected in the event of a motor vehicle crash as a result of changes to child passenger safety regulations that make booster seats mandatory. The regulations come into effect tomorrow, July 1, 2008.

All children over nine kg (40 lbs) need to be in booster seats until they are 1.45 metres (4’9”) tall or age nine. A booster seat will properly position a seat belt over a child’s shoulders and across the chest so that the risk of serious injury and death is greatly reduced in the event of a crash.

Booster seats reduce the risk of fatality by 71 per cent and the risk of serious injury by 67 per cent. In B.C., an average of 860 children aged five through nine are seriously injured every year in motor vehicle collisions.

The booster seat law expands on existing regulations that already protect infants and children. Children over one year old and between nine and 18 kg (20-40 lbs) are required to be seated in a child car seat, and infants must be seated in rear-facing infant seats that are not placed in front of an active frontal air bag until the baby is at least one year of age and nine kg (20 lbs).

Additional changes to MVA regulations also remove a number of exemptions. All drivers, not just the child’s parents or guardians, will now have to use child restraints for their young occupants, as will drivers of rental vehicles, out-of-province vehicles and passenger vans. Failure to comply with these new regulations will result in a $109 fine.

B.C. joins Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and numerous U.S. states which have similar booster seat laws.

For more information use this Nanaimo Info LINK.