New Jersey’s revised Passenger Child Restraint Law went into effect on September 1, 2015. This law updates the requirements regarding child car restraints to comply with current safety standards. The requirements under the current law are:

*Children under 2 years old and 30 pounds must sit in a rear-facing seat that uses a five-point harness

*Children between 2 and 4 years old and between 30 and 40 pounds should sit in a forward-facing seat with a five point harness

*Children between 4 and 8 years old and under 57″ tall should use a booster seat; once the child is over 8 years old or over 57″ tall, the child can simply use a seat belt.

While increasing restrictions on transporting your children can feel like a hassle, these new laws are supported by the research and recommendations of both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Statistics show that laws such as these save lives. Car accidents are the number one cause of death among children aged 1 to 19. According to the NHTSA, of all 2013 car accident-related deaths of children aged 8 and under, 31% were unrestrained at the time of the crash. For children between 4 and 8 years old, booster seats have been shown to reduce the risk of serious injury by 45% over use of only a seat belt. When a small child, between 2 and 5 years, is buckled in simply with a seatbelt, they are four times as likely to incur a serious head injury in a crash.

If you have purchased a new seat in order to comply with the law, make sure that you carefully follow instructions on how to install and buckle the seat. While a safety seat can reduce fatal injuries in infants by 71% and by 54% for toddlers, this is only when the seat is used correctly. Researchers estimate that 73% of child car restraints are critically misused, with infant seats being the most misused. There are events throughout the state of New Jersey where you can get assistance installing your car seat from safety officials, a list of which you can find here.

Your child passengers rely on you for their safety. Infants need you to ensure that they are securely locked in to their car seat, and older children need you to set an example for seat belt use that will stick with them for a lifetime, maybe one day saving their life.

If you or a child passenger has been injured in a car accident in northern New Jersey, contact the compassionate Morristown personal injury and car crash law firm Smith & Doran for a consultation, at 973-292-0016.