Florida Car Seat Laws Explained
It is the law in the State of Florida that children ages 4 through 5 are required to sit in a booster seat with a seat belt if they weigh more than 40 pounds and are less than 4’9" tall. The Florida statute provides that: "a child who is four years of age or older, but less than six years of age shall be secured in a federally approved child restraint system or booster seat." Florida law does not prescribe an age when your child can transition to a booster seat, only that the booster seat must be used until your child is "four years of age or older."
Florida law requires that you must buckle your child using a booster seat with a seat belt until they are 4’9" tall or 8 years old. If your child is at least 8 years old or taller than 4’9", a safety belt may be used alone if all of the following are met: Recently, the state of Florida has made these new changes to Florida seatbelt laws. On July 1, 2011, in an attempt to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries associated with improper car seat use, Florida law states that; Any motor vehicle equipped with a passenger van or truck that was originally manufactured, designed, or equipped to carry 10 or more passengers, including the driver, which is constructed before model year 2001, must be equipped with seat belts for each passenger, including front-facing safety belts and safety belts usable by a child in a booster seat on every rear seat. Starting January 1, 2012 , the law will apply to any passenger van or truck that will be used to transport a minor under the 2012-2013 school year. If your vehicle was manufactured between 2001 and 2012, Florida law does not require special seat belts for the use of children in booster seats. In the state of Florida, there is no "safe" place in a vehicle where a child is safest during a traffic collision. The back seat is still the safest place for your child because the belt fits better and the chances that it becomes unbuckled are substantially lower. If your 5-year-old is sitting in a booster seat with a seat belt, the center of the back seat is the safest position for the child. This is due to several factors, including ease of access to the seat belt and the booster seat. If a crash occurs, the center position tends to have the largest amount of crumple space and allows the passenger to move the furthest in the direction of the crash without contacting a solid wall or object. However, if there is a risk of a rear-end impact, the middle seat is the most dangerous place.
In most cases, there is a 3-point lap and shoulder style belt in the center rear seat. In a crash, this style of seat belt typically activates a more aggressive pretensioning and load-limiting mechanism in a rear-end impact. If a booster seat is being used without a properly adjusted shoulder belt, the child will slide under the shoulder belt resulting in spine head and neck injuries.
The Car Seat Laws Are Stark
Car seat laws have been enacted because statistics show that properly restrained children are less likely to suffer devastating injuries or even death in car accidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has reported that the proper use of child safety seats reduces the risk of fatal injury by 71 percent for infants, 54 percent for toddlers, and 45 percent for children between the ages of 4 and 8.
According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, 19 children were killed, and 1,679 were injured in motor vehicle crashes throughout the state in 2016. Statewide, there were 16 fatalities among children under 5 years of age in 2017. Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 14 in the United States. In 2017, 598 children in this age group died as a result of motor vehicle crashes; 494 of these children were riding as passengers.
In Florida, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional deaths among children ages 1 to 4. In fact, traffic injuries are responsible for almost half (44 percent) of all unintentional deaths among Florida’s children under 4 years of age. Children between the ages of 5 and 9 make up the third-largest group of traffic-related fatalities in the state. With these facts in mind, it is easy to see why lawmakers take car seat laws and child safety very seriously.
Different Kinds of Car Seats for 5 Year Olds
The types of car seats available for a 5-year-old child are fairly simple and more-or-less standardized. The most common types of car seats for 5-year-old children include:
As long as your child’s height and weight are appropriate, choosing the type of car seat is not difficult. More important than selecting the right type of car seat is knowing when to switch. That’s because both booster seats and convertible car seats do not conveniently alert parents that it is now safe to make the switch. Parents too often rely on their own judgment to choose when to switch—using something other than manufacturer guidelines—and that is when injury can occur.
It is frustrating that manufacturers have these alternative guidelines, particularly because they are not easy to find online or in a manual. One guideline—which is standard across most car seat manufacturers—is that the child must reach at least 4 feet 9 inches tall and weigh at least 100 pounds to use a standard seat belt without any booster. Keep in mind that this is for personal passenger vehicles that have standard head rests. Pickup trucks and large SUVs are a different story and typically are not designed for complete safety if the child has no booster.
The AAP recommends that your child stay in the safest rear-facing position for as long as possible before switching to forward-facing, and not just for the sake of complying with the law. If your child is still growing out of the rear-facing car seat by the time they turn 5 years old, then reverse-facing should be your second choice, as the ultimate goal is to preserve the safety technology of the seat.
Not only does Florida law require booster seats (and sometimes car seats) for children up to the age of 5, but it is also a good idea for the safety of your child to have them secured in the correct seat. In addition to a booster or convertible seat, however, if neither is compliant with the law in Florida (analagous laws exist in Utah, for example), then another option might be to purchase what’s known as a combination seat.
The combination seat allows for changes to be made as your child gets older and larger—first using a booster and then converting to a buckled seat. While not required by law, the combination seat is a good idea for the safety of your child.
How to Install Your Car Seat
When securing a car seat or booster seat for a five-year-old, it is essential to follow the proper installation guidelines to ensure optimal safety. If using an infant or convertible car seat, check to ensure that it is reclined back at a 45-degree angle. The shoulder harnesses should not be too tight. The straps can be tightened, but not too tightly. The straps need to be fully engaged and locked in.
If you are utilizing a forward-facing car seat for your five-year-old, make sure that the car seat is tightly secured to the vehicle seat. It should not move more than one inch from side to side or front to back when shaken. The safety harness should be tightly secured around the child’s body without being too tight .
All booster seats should be used with the seatbelt and may not be used with a lap belt. The position of the booster seat should allow the child’s knees to be able to bend comfortably on the vehicle seat without their feet hanging off the end of the seat. The lap belt should lie snugly low on the child’s hips, while the shoulder strap should lie flat against the child’s chest and shoulder.
The most common installation mistake is not tightening the vehicle’s seatbelt enough to secure the car seat properly. Another mistake is using a booster seat with a lap belt only. Parents should ensure that the shoulder portion of the three-point seatbelt also is used.
Getting Penalized
Violating Florida car seat laws can result in traffic citations and fines, in addition to the potential for injury to your child. In most cases, violations of child restraint laws are treated as traffic infractions, which can carry a standard penalty of $60 plus court costs. However, it’s important to note that this is the maximum fine allowed by law. Although many parents do receive a traffic citation issued by law enforcement when they’re caught violating child safety laws for 5-year-olds, some judges may be lenient when issuing the fine. In addition to fines, law enforcement may also require parents to appear in traffic court when not in compliance with car seat laws. In some cases, the police officer who issues the citation may also encourage parents to comply by bringing the citation back days later, showing the court that the fine should be dismissed because the parents have complied with the law. However, not all judges are as lenient. The potential for civil liability may be enough to dissuade parents from taking the risk of a ticket. If your child is seriously injured in a car crash while unrestrained or improperly restrained, you may wish to assign blame for your child’s injuries to another driver in the lawsuit. The defendant may then argue that you are partially to blame for the child’s injuries because your child was not lawfully restrained at the time of the crash. This can help to reduce the amount of damages you may recover under the law. In addition to civil liability, a driver ticketed for violating Florida’s child safety restraint laws may also be required to complete a Child Restraint Safety seat Program approved by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which would require 4 hours of attendance at an electronic or instructor-led course.
Other Resources
There are several resources for parents to ensure compliance with the law and to give their children the safest travel environment. In addition to outreach through schools and community centers, many law enforcement agencies across Florida provide car seat check programs, which allow parents to receive hands-on assistance in installing car seats correctly. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles offers multiple safety workshops on child passenger safety. The workshops, which are free to the public , are run by certified child passenger safety instructors and cover a wide array of topics and information on child passenger safety requirements. Some agencies also conduct their own workshops, and many collaboratively work with hospitals, schools, and nonprofit organizations to further educate parents on the importance of keeping their children restrained, in addition to providing them with hands-on assistance. Online support communities offer resources to parents. One such community is the Child Passenger Safety Facebook page, which contains useful resources so parents can stay updated on the latest in car seat technology.