Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 1:31 pm:

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Vehicle seats and belts are designed for adult bodies. For children who have outgrown a safety seat with a harness, a booster seat is needed to keep the lap belt on the upper thighs and the shoulder belt centered on the shoulder and chest.

Young children who are placed in vehicle belts rather than booster seats are 59% more likely to suffer devatating injuries, including severe damage to the brain, liver, spleen, and spinla cord. Most children need to use a booster seat from about age four until at least age 8-10 for maximum protection and improved comfort in the car.

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Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 1:35 pm:

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Effective December 1, 2001, New Jersey's child passenger safety law requires:

*Use Child Safety Seats up to age 8 or 80 pounds

*Use Seat Belts age 8 to 18

*Children up to age 8 or 80 pounds must ride in a safety or booster seat in the rear seat of the vehicle. If there is no rear seat, the child must sit in the front seat secured by a safety or booster seat.

*Children under age 8 who weigh more than 80 pounds must wear a seat belt anywhere in the vehicle.

*Passengers age 8 to 18 (regardless of weight ) must wear a seat belt anywhere inside a vehicle.

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Posted on Sunday, February 19, 2006 - 2:38 pm:

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According to another important study conducted at CHOP, transitioning children from child safety seats to belt-positioning booster seats instead of vehicle safety belts provides significant safety benefits for children at least through age 7.

CHOP found that the use of belt-positioning booster seats lowers the risk of injury to children in crashes by 59 percent compared to the use of vehicle safety belts alone. The finding comes from a study of children 4 to 8 by Partners for Child Passenger Safety (PCPS), a long-term research project based at CHOP and funded by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company.

The study – “Belt-Positioning Booster Seats and Reduction in Risk of Injury Among Children in Vehicle Crashes” – was published in the June 4, 2003, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, and provided the first real-world evidence of the added safety benefits of belt-positioning booster seats over safety belts alone.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/BoosterSeatProgress/pages/RecentR esFindings.htm

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Posted on Sunday, February 19, 2006 - 2:41 pm:

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In addition, the study demonstrated that proper positioning of the safety belt by the booster seat virtually eliminates injuries associated with safety belt syndrome, including injuries to the abdomen, neck, spine, and back, as well as lower extremity injuries. In contrast, children in the study who were restrained in safety belts alone suffered injuries to every body region.

CHOP/PCPS conducted in-depth analyses on 4,243 children 4 through 7 who were in crashes reported to State Farm from 1998 through 2002. The PCPS data demonstrates that booster seat use, while on the rise, remains quite low. Only 16 percent of 4-year-olds, 13 percent of 5-year-olds, and 4 percent of 6- and 7-year-olds were using booster seats.

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