Booster Seats
Oregon's Child Passenger Safety Law Changes
Effective July 1, 2007
Amending ORS 811.210 and 811.215
Oregon drivers look to the law in deciding how to restrain and protect children in motor vehicles. The proper restraint of children will reduce the number of children killed in motor vehicle crashes and reduce the severity of injuries to children who survive motor vehicle crashes.
Oregon law has required children younger than 6 years of age or weighing less than 60 pounds to ride in booster seats. Recent research has shown that adult lap and shoulder belts do not fit children until they are age 8 or 4'9" tall. (Partners for Child Passenger Safety, Fact and Trend Report 2006) By requiring the use of child safety seats for children up to age 8 or 4'9", Oregon will be ensuring that children who do not fit in adult safety belts are protected.
Oregon's Occupant Protection Law now reflects National Best Practice.
Changes to the law require:
- Infants must ride rear-facing until they reach both one year of age AND twenty pounds.
- Children who weigh over 40 pounds must be properly secured in a booster seat until
they are age 8 OR 4'9" in height. - Children who are age 8 or older OR are taller than 4'9" must ride properly secured with
the safety belt system.
The law continues to require:
Children over one year old and between 20 and 40 pounds must be properly secured with a
forward-facing child safety seat up to a minimum of 40 pounds or the weight limit of the seat.
Contact ACTS Oregon Child Safety Seat Resource Center for information on Oregon law,
answers to child passenger safety questions or to locate a child safety seat check up event:
503-643-5620 or 800-772-1315
When Is It Safe For My Child To Ride Without A Booster?
Experts agree and the evidence is conclusive that children are moving to safety belts too soon. Surveys conducted by NHTSA and research published by Partners for Child Passenger Safety, conclude that children between the ages of 4 and 8 years are riding at risk. "Children are at unnecessary risk of being injured in crashes because they are either in the wrong restraint for their size or worse, totally unrestrained," according to NHTSA Administrator Jeffrey W. Runge, MD.
- 48% of children between the ages of 4 and 8 killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2001 were unrestrained.
- Using a belt positioning booster (BPB) with a safety belt instead of a safety belt alone reduces a child¹s risk of injury by 59%.
- Children placed in poorly fitting adult safety belts can suffer serious life-threatening injuries or risk being ejected from a vehicle in a crash.
Approximately 1.5 million children are passengers in automobile crashes every year in the
U.S. In 2002, morethan 400 U.S. children between the ages of 4 and 8 were killed and an
additional 71,000 were injured in crashes. Of those injured, 7,316 sustained incapacitating
injuries.
Head and Face Injuries Most Common
- 71% of serious injuries to 4 to 8 year olds are to the head or face.
- Children in seat belts are 4 times more likely to suffer head/brain injury as compared to children who use a child safety seat (CSS) or BPB.
- The brain is the organ least likely to recover from injury.
Seat Belt Syndrome Is Also a Problem
Seat Belt Syndrome is a pattern of intra-abdominal and spinal injuries as well as lower extremity injuries. When children are prematurely transitioned into adult safety belts, the lap portion of the belt rides up over the soft abdomen and the shoulder portion crosses the neck or face, causing many children to place the shoulder belt behind them or under their arm. Studies have found that beginning at age 3 there was a sudden drop in appropriate restraint use. By age 6 few children remained in child restraints or booster seats. Children from ages 4 to 8 who were not riding in BPB's were more than three times as likely to sustain an abdominal injury as a child riding in a BPB.
Best Practice Recommendation:
Children should ride in a child safety seat with a harness as long as possible, usually 40
pounds child safety seats are rated to higher weights with the harness, the child should
continue to use the harness.
Children over 40 pounds should use a BPB until the answer to all of these questions is yes:
- Does the child sit all the way back against the auto seat?
- Do the child's knees bend comfortably at the edge of the auto seat?
- Does the belt cross the collarbone between the neck and arm?
- Is the lap belt as low as possible, touching the hips and thighs?
- Can the child stay seated like this for the whole trip?
Adapted from Partners for Child Passenger Safety and Safety Belt Safe USA.
More information on booster seats is available on these web sites:
SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A.– Safe Ride Helpline Online
www.carseat.org
National SAFE KIDS Campaign
www.safekids.org
Washington State Booster Seat Coalition
www.depts.washington.edu/booster
