Booster seat misuse warning story (child death)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can I just say that we should all band together to resist the peer pressure among kids to get out of car seats and boosters? My 8 year old insists she's the only one still in a booster. I keep saying I don't care, but really, people, unless your 8 year old is a future nba/wnba player, they should have the booster. Mine is 75% for height and still no where near what the guidelines say for rising without a booster.

We haven't had much pressure. And my (tiny) 8 year old is still in a 5 pt harness in our car. I do have a booster for her to ride in a friend's car. But that doesn't happen very often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand from reading the story what was done wrong re the booster. Was she not tall or heavy enough for a booster, or was it not set up correctly? I'm not at all trying to cast blame on anyone but trying to figure out what lesson we should take away to keep our own kids safe in boosters

Well, for one thing she was THREE. That alone is reason enough to still be in a 5 point seat in many states.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh the tears.
My 6 yo is still in a five point harness.

Isn't that against the law? I have a friend who got a ticket for having her 3.5 yr old in one.

I call BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ok, but if your child is using the backless booster properly at 10, they SHOULD be fine.

My child is almost 9 and keeps arguing with me over her backless booster. I keep telling her she just isn't tall enough.

This story sadly is about a little girl not in the right seat AND using it improperly. No less tragic, but context is important.

Get her an incognito for $20. They come in regular car interior colors and do not look as much like a booster seat.

I am considering it. The bad thing is that there are a lot of kids in her class out of seats that shouldn't be. I have to keep explaining to her that I am her parent and I decide for her. What other parents do is not important to me (even though I am secretly judging if you aren't using a booster if your kid isn't tall enough yet)

Get the incognito as a compromise so it is not as obvious and does not look like a kids seat. You're correct in your car seat usage but there are new products to help. Tell her she is lucky to be in a backless and if she keeps arguing she will go into a high back booster. . My child is five and I am amazed that the three and four year olds are in backless boosters and how the parents do not put the straps on properly on the harnessed seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh the tears.
My 6 yo is still in a five point harness.

Isn't that against the law? I have a friend who got a ticket for having her 3.5 yr old in one.

I call BS.

In Oregon if the child is over 40 lbs you have to be in a booster. She didn't know and got a ticket

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh the tears.
My 6 yo is still in a five point harness.

Isn't that against the law? I have a friend who got a ticket for having her 3.5 yr old in one.

I call BS.

In Oregon if the child is over 40 lbs you have to be in a booster. She didn't know and got a ticket

False. Over 40lbs and *above the car seat limits* they have to be in a booster *vs just the regular seat.*

I'm not saying your friend didn't get the ticket, but if she had her 3.5 yo in a 5 PT and was within the seat guidelines that is absolutely within the Oregon rules, so if she got a ticket for that the police officer writing it was making a mistake and she could have fought it.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TS/Pages/safetybelts.aspx

[Anonymous]

I also had to look it up about OR:


BOOSTER SEAT LAW
Children over forty pounds or who have reached the upper weight limit for their forward-facing carseat must use boosters to 4'9" tall or age eight and the adult belt fits correctly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh the tears.
My 6 yo is still in a five point harness.

Isn't that against the law? I have a friend who got a ticket for having her 3.5 yr old in one.

I call BS.

In Oregon if the child is over 40 lbs you have to be in a booster. She didn't know and got a ticket

False. Over 40lbs and *above the car seat limits* they have to be in a booster *vs just the regular seat.*

I'm not saying your friend didn't get the ticket, but if she had her 3.5 yo in a 5 PT and was within the seat guidelines that is absolutely within the Oregon rules, so if she got a ticket for that the police officer writing it was making a mistake and she could have fought it.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TS/Pages/safetybelts.aspx

I'm not even sure the child was over 40 lbs. the police officer just looked at her and said the kid was too big and my friend was like what ? She is only 3 then he gave her a ticket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh the tears.
My 6 yo is still in a five point harness.

Isn't that against the law? I have a friend who got a ticket for having her 3.5 yr old in one.

I call BS.

In Oregon if the child is over 40 lbs you have to be in a booster. She didn't know and got a ticket

False. Over 40lbs and *above the car seat limits* they have to be in a booster *vs just the regular seat.*

I'm not saying your friend didn't get the ticket, but if she had her 3.5 yo in a 5 PT and was within the seat guidelines that is absolutely within the Oregon rules, so if she got a ticket for that the police officer writing it was making a mistake and she could have fought it.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TS/Pages/safetybelts.aspx

I'm not even sure the child was over 40 lbs. the police officer just looked at her and said the kid was too big and my friend was like what ? She is only 3 then he gave her a ticket.

Then the cop was wrong. My FD seat goes to 90 pounds. So my kid would have been within code. (Wife of cop).
She should have taken it to court.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ok, but if your child is using the backless booster properly at 10, they SHOULD be fine.

My child is almost 9 and keeps arguing with me over her backless booster. I keep telling her she just isn't tall enough.

This story sadly is about a little girl not in the right seat AND using it improperly. No less tragic, but context is important.

Get her an incognito for $20. They come in regular car interior colors and do not look as much like a booster seat.

I am considering it. The bad thing is that there are a lot of kids in her class out of seats that shouldn't be. I have to keep explaining to her that I am her parent and I decide for her. What other parents do is not important to me (even though I am secretly judging if you aren't using a booster if your kid isn't tall enough yet)

Get the incognito as a compromise so it is not as obvious and does not look like a kids seat. You're correct in your car seat usage but there are new products to help. Tell her she is lucky to be in a backless and if she keeps arguing she will go into a high back booster. . My child is five and I am amazed that the three and four year olds are in backless boosters and how the parents do not put the straps on properly on the harnessed seats.

Yeah, our daughter was harnessed in our cars until probably 6.5. We let her sit in a HBB in her sitter's van at 5.5 the couple days a week she went there, which was around the corner from our neighborhood school. At this point, I really don't want to spend any more money on seats for her since I have a new baby who needs all brand new seats.

The day she hits 4'9", though - paaaar-tay! I was boostered for a long time back in the 80's when most parents didn't. I was a petite kiddo, so my parents did the right thing and I honestly don't remember it being an issue.

I agree that there are far too many kids in the wrong seats way too young.

[Anonymous]

MD law has height AND weight AND age requirements. Which meant my giant son sat in a booster until the day of his 8th birthday, even though he had long passed the height and weight requirements, and by virtue of his size he used the seat belt rather than the 5pt harness.

The maturity to sit properly is a big piece of the puzzle; he was a fidgety kid and there was no way he would sit up straight with his shoulder belt properly in place with a backless booster. So the Frontier stayed.

Anytime he complained I reminded him about the car accident we'd had when he was 5yo. Another car crashed into us, the impact hit right where his toddler brother was seated. Also in a Frontier, that had been recently checked at the Fitzgerald Motors regular car seat checks. Not a scratch on anyone. EMTs told me it was the seat that saved him.

That same kid is now 6yo and would love to be out of his 5pt harness but the same rules will apply.

I don't understand how there's so much neurosis around parenting decisions these days, but so many people willing to disregard a vital safety issue. There are plenty of cheap, good, 5pt harness seats. Hundreds of young kids are killed every year in this country due to car accidents; hundreds of thousands are injured. It's a much bigger risk than almost anything else your kids will do. Disregarding that to save money/time/hassle or to make your kids stop whining is wildly irresponsible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh the tears.
My 6 yo is still in a five point harness.

Isn't that against the law? I have a friend who got a ticket for having her 3.5 yr old in one.

What? My 6 to is in a harness. Britax makes them for pretty large kids.

[Anonymous]

I'm too much of pregnant hormonal wuss to click on the link, but it's always good to discuss these issues. I have an almost two year old now and I have lots of people asking me when I'll turn the seat forward. It's horrible thinking that an injury could have been prevented. I keep flashing to my own time in a backless booster seat. I think it was from age 3-5 in the early to mid 80's. My mom got a car with shoulder belts in the back seat when I was 6 and I consistently stuck the shoulder belt under my arm until I was around 11. I'm lucky that worked out for me! I guess a lot of us are!