Infant Car Seat Laws Changing in NYS
A new law in NYS will change how long your child is required to remain in a rear-facing seat.
Rear-facing. Front-facing. Booster seats. Determining which seat is appropriate for your child and for how long is a common parenting dilemma.
Governor Cuomo signed a new law that says that children need to remain in a rear-facing seat until they are 2-years-old. The law does provide an exception for children who exceed the weight and height requirements for a rear-facing seats.
The law takes effect Nov. 1, 2019, according to a report by WGRZ.
According to an interview at Parenting.com with Dr. Ben Hoffman, who is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and a child passenger safety technician, each seat has it's own weight limit. Even if your child reaches two years of age, it's still safer to keep them rear-facing until they reach that limit.
A 2007 study in the journal Injury Prevention found that children under age two are 75 percent less likely to die or to be severely injured in a crash if they are rear-facing. Another study found riding rear-facing to be five times safer than forward-facing.
Keeping children safe is a priority for any parent, and proper car seat use is an important part of that.