BOZEMAN, Mont. – A new car seat law aiming to enhance child passenger safety is now in effect across Montana, establishing updated guidelines for car seats and booster seats for children.
Rep. Marc Lee, a firefighter in Butte, wrote and sponsored the bill. He is actively involved in training firefighters across Montana to be car seat technicians and helping families ensure their car seats are properly installed.
“Unfortunately, in the line of work that we do, you see a lot of tragedy. And the tragedy can certainly be very, very hard to witness, especially when you see it with children,” he said.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, roughly only half of car seats are installed correctly, and car crashes are the leading cause of death for children in the U.S.
The new law, House Bill 586, outlines specific guidelines for car seat usage. Children aged zero to two should be properly restrained in a rear-facing car seat. Those aged two to four can transition to a front-facing car seat with a five-point harness. Kids aged four to eight must use either a car seat, or a booster seat with a seatbelt if they weigh at least 40 pounds. Children must be nine years old or must outgrow the height or weight requirements of their previous car seat to use only an adult seat belt.
“I think it’s something that over time is truly going to not just save lives, but it’s going to reduce a lot of injuries for children,” Rep. Mueller said.
More in-depth explanations for car seat laws can be found in this infographic:
Rep. Lee emphasized that Montana has been lagging in child passenger protection, compared to other states. In the last 25 years, there have only been three updates to child passenger protection laws, including this latest bill, he said.
“What we did is, is we gathered some information from a lot of other states. We gathered with the car seat manufacturers – their suggestions also. And we kind of meshed everything together, which I think made it a great bill,” Rep. Lee said.
National organizations and advocates have reached out to him to ask about the legislative process getting the bill passed.
“It was a very hard bill. We ran into some struggles with some other people that thought it was too prescriptive,” he added.
Scott Mueller, Deputy Chief Fire Marshall, highlighted the benefits of keeping children in a five-point harness as long as possible.
“It will hold them in better. It spreads the crash forces farther out on the body of the person in the seat,” he said.
The Bozeman Fire Department is also actively involved in ensuring car seats are properly installed. Mueller, who has worked for Bozeman Fire for 20 years, also teaches families how to install car seats. The department often hosts checkup events for families to verify their car seats and boosters are correctly set up.
The best way to ensure your car seat is properly installed is to follow both the car seat manual and the vehicle manual, Mueller said.
Different seats often have different methods for installation. Most newer cars have anchor points in the back seats, as well as ceiling anchor points. If a car seat is set up correctly, it shouldn’t be able to wiggle more than an inch to the left and right.
“Our biggest goal in this is to help educate and make sure that they’re knowledgeable about following proper instructions from the manual or best practices,” he said.
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