Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Michigan Car Seat Law

As of yesterday we are now required to put Amanda in a booster seat when transporting her from here to there. The new law went into effect (in Michigan) yesterday and states that children under age eight must be in a car seat or booster seat unless they are 4'9" or taller.

This law is probably a very important one for the safety of children, yet I HATE to be told by the government what to do, how to do it, and when to do it - ALL OF THE TIME. Thankfully, we kept our booster seat - in fact we have 2 different kinds - and won't have to buy another one. On the down side, Amanda hasn't had to be in a car seat for the past 2 years and now she has to be restrained in one all over again. Six of us riding in Josh's car is tight fitting at best and now we have to squeeze in a car seat every Sunday for church. It's that or nothing since Jeff has our van every Sunday morning. Phooey.

I wonder what folks will be told they have to buy tomorrow.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Rita,
I'm so glad you still have her seat! I'm actually wishing that law had happened when my kids were younger. I had read up on those things, and ended up having my kids in boosters long after their friends weren't. Nothing quite like having a little friend refer to a "baby seat." It was awful. I tried to see that their friends wouldn't catch them using them. I've always been a stickler on safety things that I've had the ability to influence. I hope Amanda's OK with it...
bethanyrae

na said...

I agree with you Rita. I had planned on keeping my kids in a seat also...but there were plenty of kids that had already been out of their seats for at least two years before Indiana passed that same law a few years ago. It is very difficult to put kids back in them once they have been taken out.

The main problem I have with it is that the public school buses are exempt from this law. If it is sooo important for our kids to be in these seats...shouldn't the buses have to comply as well?