California booster seat law will finish the front seats for children

From Ryan SabalowCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Calling a “rifle” to ride in the front seat may no longer be an option for small size California medium and high school students.

Referring to statistics on catastrophes showing that children with a small frame, regardless of age, are disproportionately injured in crashes when not in the back seat or using a booster seat, the safety advocates insist on a controversial account that would ban teenagers up to 16 years old.

The bill will require all the children more than 10 to use booster seats and to boost all under 13 years of age, to sit in the front seat. In anticipation of a measure, they will also require children of 13 years to use a booster seat, unless they meet the criteria for the same size.

California’s current law requires children to use boosters Until they are 8 Or reach a height of 4 feet 9 inches, although the California highway patrol recommends to all children less than 13 sitting in the back.

Last week, the Assembly Transport Committee voted for progress in the new, more restrictive rules for reinforcement, Lori Wilsons It was for assembly 435, which has support from some safety and healthcare groups for children and cars. Violators will face $ 20 tickets for the first crime and $ 50 for each subsequent crime.

Wilson, Democrat representing the city of Suisun, told the committee She remembers that he “is a child who calls a rifle” so that he can ride in the front seat.

But she said the anxious number of children injured or died in crashes because the seat belts and airbags were not mounted for their small bodies.

“God forbid something happens, we want our children to be safe,” Wilson told the committeeS

Under Wilson’s bill, starting in 2027, a child will have to pass a “five -step test” To be able to ride in the front seat or move from a booster seat, depending on the age of the child:

1. Does the child sit completely against the seat?

2. The knees of the child bend comfortably at the end of the seat?

3. Does the belt cross the shoulder between the neck and the arm, resting on the clavicle?

4. The circumference belt is as low as possible, touching the hips?

5. Can the child stay this way for the whole trip?

CHP, AA, the National Movement Safety Administration on highways, the California Department of Public Health, the California Association of Hospitals, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other groups encourage the use of the five -step test to determine whether the child is ready to use a seat belt.

Wilson said Louisiana and Minnesota have passed similar laws.

Another racial profiling option?

All 12 Democrats in the Transport Committee voted to improve the measure, although some, including Rhodesia At a hundred, there were concerns.
Noting that there is a “23-year-old child-induced child whose legs often do not pass over chairs”, Ransom that is black, said she was worried The bill would apologize to the police to pull colorful people like her.

Wilson, who is also a member of the legislative black croak, admitted that the ransom made sense.

“A police officer could profile them … and say,” I’ll use the five -point test. ” she saidS “We hope this is rare.”

The four Republicans on the committee did not vote on Wilson’s bill, which counted the same as the vote “No”. As CalMatters reported, The wide practice of avoiding hard voices Allows legislators to avoid accountability.

Republican Assembly Tom LakayA retired CHP official representing Palmdale told the committee that he was worried that the bill would be difficult to implement.

“Determining the age of children is very difficult to do when you do not have a check on the identification of this age level,” ” he saidS “So you will have to trust the parents.”
He added that the parents would not want an officer to reach out to his car and touch his child’s thigh to make sure the seat belt is properly placed.

Assembly Heather HadwickA Republican representing the northeast corner of California was concerned that Wilson’s bill was not only concerned with cabin pickups that many of its voters drive. Wilson told her not to worry.

“Since this law is included in other countries, I am convinced that we can find a solution,” “
Wilson saidS

Other nanny bills have failed

Republican from the San Joaquin Valley David TangipaWho recently was a narrow end to Freshno’s Football Team, asked how the booster place in the size of his child with his large Polynesian family would work.

“When I was about 12 years old, I was 6 feet and 210 pounds,” he saidS “I am the smallest of my siblings.”

Jennifer Rubin, a supporter of secure children a larger Sacramento, told Tangip that he and his siblings would pass the test with five steps earlier because they are tall.

Rubin’s group is a leading supporter of the bill. No group officially opposed.

The bill is now moving to the Budget Loan Committee of the Assembly. Democratic bills rarely fail to get out of their first committee. But from there, the most reflective bills that become a “nanny” fodder for conservative media can sometimes be soaked or killed.

Eg last year Gavard Gavin Newo intervened to kill a bill that will have Forbidden young children to play footballS Legislation supporters said young children suffered too much injury to the head playing sports.

Newsom too killed The proposed legislation last A year from San Francisco Democratic Seni. Wiener This would initially require the “speed managers” to be installed in any new car in California. Devices would block motorists to drive more than 10 mph above the speed limit. The bill was amended for cars to make a “short, one -time visual and audio signal to alert the driver every time they exceed the speed limit”, according to the bill analysis.

Newsom Veto this bill In September, saying that the federal government was responsible for the implementation of such provisions, not for California.

Asked last week for Bill for the headquarters of the teenage booster, Newsom spokesman Daniel Villaseer declined to comment, saying that the governor usually did not comment on the pending legislation.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.