Keeping your children safe in moving vehicles is for their protection — and it’s the law. Learn the basics, and regularly check how your child fits in a car.
Few experiences are as harrowing as bringing one’s first child home from the hospital. Loading that small bundle into a giant metal vehicle is the first awareness of the enormity of parenting — and many of us drove home well below the speed limit.
Like seat belts for adults, child safety restraints are a matter of law in addition to safety. However, the rules for kids are not as simple as Click It or Ticket. In general, child passengers must be restrained in child safety seats until they weigh forty pounds or reach the upper weight limit for the car seat in use. Infants must ride rear-facing until they reach two years of age per Oregon law; however, it is suggested that parents keep their children rear-facing until they reach the maximum height or weight limit for the car seat. There are multiple factors such as age, height and weight, as well as instructions from the vehicle and car seat manufacturers, that make the transition from rear-facing to forward facing to booster seat unique to each child.
Santiam Hospital’s Registered Car Seat Technician Josie Crocker provides free car seat safety checks by appointment. To schedule an appointment, call or text 503-562-9426 or email jcrocker@santiamhospital.org
Your child may be ready to move from a forward-facing car seat with a 5-point harness to a booster seat if they have reached the upper weight limit for car seats and are at least forty pounds. They must ride with a booster until they are at least 4'9" tall, age eight and only if the adult belt fits correctly across them.
Older children can move from a booster to a safety belt if:
They can sit all the way back against the seat of the vehicle with their knees bent comfortably over the edge of the vehicle’s seat;
Their feet rest flat on the floor;
The shoulder belt lays flat across the collarbone and across the child’s chest (never against their neck);
The lap belt lays low across the child’s thighs (not their stomach); and
The child can remain comfortably seated for the entire trip.
Until you can answer yes to all of the questions, your child should stay in a booster seat.
As they get older, your children will no doubt begin to vie for a seat in the front with the adults or “big kids.” While there is no Oregon law specifically prohibiting children from riding in the front seat of passenger vehicles, it’s strongly recommended that children remain back seat passengers until at least age thirteen. Front seat air bags are designed and tested for adult passengers and can be incredibly dangerous to children in the event of an accident.
Despite the information that we have at our disposal online and through friends and family, additional peace of mind can be achieved by turning to an expert for consultation. Santiam Hospital’s Registered Car Seat Technician Josie Crocker provides free car seat safety checks by appointment. To schedule an appointment, call or text 503-562-9426 or email jcrocker@santiamhospital.org
Brought to you by: santiamhospital.org
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