This past week I went shopping for a new Child Safety Seat (Car Seat) for my daughter. The time had come where I put her in her infant car seat and realized she had just about grown out of it. Soon it would no longer be adequate to keep her safe. Off to the store we went. There were so many options to choose from but no one around to give advice on which one would protect my daughter the best, or which complied with state law as there were so many options to choose from. This got me thinking about what resources parents have when selecting a car seat so I thought I would take some time this month to help educate parents of small children on the Child Safety Seat Law in Wisconsin. We have a tiered structure in Wisconsin. The first tier is for newborns until they are age 1 and at least 20 lbs. These children must be in a rear-facing seat in the back seat of the vehicle (if so equipped). Children that are between the ages of 1 and 4 and between the weight of 20 and 40 pounds may be placed in either a front facing or rear facing car seat, but they must still be in the back seat of the vehicle (if so equipped). You may want to keep an eye on this one in the future as there is a push in our legislature to change this to require that they remain rear-facing until the age of 2. Children age 4 to 8 and between 40 and 80 pounds, but not more than 4ft 9in tall must also be in either a front facing or rear facing child safety seat in the back seat (if so equipped). These children may also be placed in a booster seat instead of a child safety seat. Please remember that Child Safety Seats do have expiration dates. They typically expire after about 6 years and they should be replaced. They also should never be used if they are ever in a vehicle involved in an accident. Make sure that if you are involved in an accident, even if it is a simple fender bender that you replace your seat. You can often times claim them with the insurance company for replacement. Penalties for violations of the Child Safety Seat Law range from $150.10 to $263.50. There are no excuses for removing a child from their seat including feeding or changing diapers. Also please be aware that the public takes this law very seriously. Even though a law enforcement officer may not be present or see the violation, a citizen may be calling us to report the incident. As long as they are able to provide a good written statement along with identifying information such as a license plate, we may still have enough evidence to issue a citation based on that statement. Most parents realize the value of having their children in an approved child safety seat. We do whatever we can to protect them from the dangers that are out in the world, and traveling down the highway is one of those dangers that we don’t want to take for granted. It only takes a split second for something to happen that could change your family’s life forever. Please help me to keep our Dodge County streets and highways safe so that everyone, especially our children, can go home injury free.
