Giving safety a boost

When Missouri's new booster-seat law takes effect next month, Jennifer Gray's 5-year-old daughter, Juliette, won't notice a difference in her ride.

She already rides in a booster seat.

Gray said her car's shoulder belt doesn't safely fit her daughter. "My biggest concern is the shoulder belt comes across the neck," the Cape Girardeau woman said.

That doesn't happen in the booster seat, Gray said as she prepared to head home with her daughter Friday afternoon from Christian School for the Young Years, 735 N. Clark Ave.

Missouri's new booster seat law takes effect on Aug. 28. It requires children ages 4 through 7 weighing less than 80 pounds and who are less than 4-feet-9-inches tall to be strapped into booster seats while riding in vehicles.

Supporters say the law should cut down on injuries to children.

Critics contend the law will be inconvenient for parents, create an added expense for families and could create problems for parents who transport their children's friends.

"Personally, I think it should be the parents' choice," said Becky Stull of Cape Girardeau.

Her 7-year-old daughter, Alicia, doesn't ride in a booster seat. Stull believes her daughter is safe riding in a car and is protected by a seat belt because Alicia doesn't wiggle around or try to get out of it. "Every child is different," she said.

Currently, children only have to ride in safety seats in Missouri until they reach 4 years of age. Less than one-fifth of children ages 4 to 8 ride in a car booster seat, national statistics show. U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said in February that the country's failure to put children in booster seats is unacceptable.

To address the situation, the federal government will provide $25 million over the next four years to states that pass and enforce new or tougher booster-seat laws. Missouri could earn about $850,000 in federal grants because of the law. Half of the money could be used to buy booster seats for poor families and the rest would go for education and law enforcement, Missouri Department of Transportation officials said.

Safety advocates say small children need booster seats because they aren't properly protected by a seat belt.

"That shoulder belt isn't designed for young children," said Capt. Chris Ricks, spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol in Jefferson City.

"If you look at the way the harness comes down, it will come down a lot of times right across their neck," he said. That can lead to serious injuries in an accident.

Brenda Bowman, a registered nurse and coordinator for the Cape Girardeau Area Safe Kids Coalition at Southeast Missouri Hospital, said children often use only the lap belt and put the shoulder belt behind them because it doesn't fit their bodies. As a result, seat-belted children can suffer abdominal and spinal injuries in traffic accidents.

Bowman said she's seen children hospitalized with injuries that could have been prevented had they been riding in booster seats.

Statewide, 20 children age 8 and younger were killed and 2,725 injured in motor vehicle crashes in 2004. Many weren't in car seats or booster seats, highway safety officials said.

Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia have enacted booster seat laws since 2000. Missouri is the latest state to do so; Gov. Matt Blunt signed the bill into law late last month.

"I'm always reluctant to create government requirements, but this is a requirement that makes sense," Blunt said prior to signing the bill.

Blunt has a 1-year-old son. "He hates his car seat, and I'm sure he'll hate his booster seat," the governor said.

The new law applies not only to families, but also to day-care centers that transport children on field trips to the local library or the municipal swimming pool.

Cathy Clark, co-owner of A Small World Pre-school at 1215 N. Kingshighway, said her day care will make sure that it transports children in booster seats. But Clark believes many parents "will be aggravated" by the law.

Janet Goodin, owner of Christian School for the Young Years, plans to buy several booster seats and install them in the day care's vans. The added expense shouldn't burden most day-care centers, she said, but centers ultimately may pass on the cost to customers.

The Safe Communities Program in Cape Girardeau distributes child safety seats to families who need them and also shows them how to properly install them. The Cape Girardeau Safe Kids Coalition also distributes and installs booster seats. Since January, the coalition has installed and/or distributed 527 booster and infant seats in a 17-county region of Southeast Missouri.

Violators of the new law face fines of $50 plus court costs. But law enforcement officials don't expect a huge number of arrests. The violation can only be enforced if the driver has been pulled over for other traffic violations.

Cape Girardeau police chief Carl Kinnison said the new law will be difficult to enforce. "We are not going to be carrying scales around with us to weigh a child," he said.

Law enforcement officials and child safety experts believe the main benefit of the law is that it will help educate parents to the merits of strapping their children into booster seats.

Melissa Moore of Cape Girardeau has already gotten the message. She plans to put her 6-year-old daughter in a booster seat.

"I think it is safer," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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