Transport minister to unveil new safety legislation today
Current law extended to include babysitters, grandparents
- Toronto Star - May 4, 2004
ROBERT BENZIE
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU
The Ontario government is making car booster seats mandatory for children in a bid to save scores of young lives each year.
Reviving safety legislation first announced by the previous Conservative government, the Liberals yesterday said booster seats will be a must for pre-school to primary-grade children.
The change affects children weighing between 40 and 80 pounds who are under 4-feet-10-inches tall to a maximum age of eight. Currently, provincial law requires children weighing more than 40 pounds to wear only a seat belt.
"Roughly 20 per cent of all fatalities on the roads are ... children and we need to protect them," said Transportation Minister Harinder Takhar, noting the measures would take effect next year.
"Every year, almost 1,000 children and young people are killed or seriously hurt on our roads. What we are proposing could reduce the number of child deaths and injuries where a child seat was not used correctly by up to 75 per cent."
Children can be injured by seat belts that do not fit properly, with belts cutting into the neck or stomach. Booster seats raise children so that the vehicle's lap and shoulder belts are properly positioned across the hips and chest. The seats are designed for children who are too big for child car seats.
The province is also toughening penalties for misuse of child car seats and booster seats by slapping scofflaws with two demerit points. Fines will remain at $110.
Under the current law, only parents are required to use car seats when driving their own children in the family vehicle. The Liberals are expanding the law to cover caregivers, including babysitters, grandparents and extended family.
"Forty per cent of our children are cared for during the day by people other than their parents. Yet these people are not legally required to transport toddlers in a child car seat."
Takhar, who will unveil the legislation today, said visitors from out of province, taxis and emergency vehicles will be exempt from the legislation.
He said there were no plans to offer financial incentives to encourage use of the booster seats, such as an exemption of the 8 per cent retail sales tax.
"The booster seats ... are about $40. I'm not sure $2 is going to make any difference."
Children and Youth Services Minister Marie Bountrogianni said the new law will save lives.
"It's a sad fact that children using seat belts instead of booster seats are 3 1/2 times more likely to suffer significant injury, and four times more likely to suffer head injury," said Bountrogianni.
