When you have your child in your car, your number one priority is your child’s safety. Parents spend hours researching the best car seats and booster seats to help keep their child safe in the event of a car crash. Government agencies and other organizations issue recommendations outlining the safest practices for transporting children in a vehicle. In addition, Louisiana has enacted specific state laws related to securing children who are riding in a vehicle.
Louisiana’s car seat laws have not changed, but there has been a change in the recommendations related to rear-facing car seats.
What is Louisiana’s Car Seat Law?
The current car seat laws in Louisiana require children younger than six years of age or weighing 60 pounds or less to be safely restrained in a child restraint system. Children must be in a rear-facing car seat until they reach one year of age or at least 20 pounds. When a child is at least one year old (but less than four years old) or weights at least 20 pounds is transitioned into a front-facing car seat.
Booster seats are used for children between the ages of four and six years who weight between 40 to 60 pounds. Once a child reaches six years of age or 60 pounds, the child may use the vehicles safety belt system. The code does state that when a child’s age and weight allow for more than one restraint system, the more protective category should be used. If you review the “best practice” recommendations by the LSP, you can see that children from birth to two years of age is recommended to ride in rear-facing car seats.
What are the Changes in Car Seat Recommendations?
The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) updated the recommendations for car seats last month. The recommendation that children should remain in rear-facing car seats through the age of two years is being updated to remove the age restriction. The AAP now recommends that a child remains in a rear-facing car seat until the child exceeds the car seat manufacturer’s height or weight recommendations.
The update is based on a review of data that led to the prior recommendation that included an age element. After reviewing information from a prior study, it was concluded that it is safer for children to remain in rear-facing car seats for as long as possible. Since many car seats are designed for children who weigh up to 40 pounds, many children over the age of two years might be able to continue using a rear-facing car seat for longer.
You can read the entire notice and the
recommendations by the AAP here.
Contact a New Orleans Car Accident Attorney
If your child is injured in a car accident, we want to help. Our New Orleans accident attorneys understand how terrifying, frustrating, and agonizing a child injury case is for the parents. We want to help you hold the negligent driver who caused the crash responsible for his or her actions.
For a free consultation with one of our New Orleans accident attorneys, contact Attorney Fred Olinde of The Olinde Firm by calling (504) 587-1440 or 1-800-587-1889. Your free case review is confidential and without obligation.