Why Laws matter...
Well, hopefully we all know the answer to this one. The law is…the law. If you don’t follow it, you can get in trouble. Laws are made for various reasons, but automotive safety laws and regulations were created to enforce minimal, proven safety measures. Child passenger safety laws are intended in part to make sure that a child isn’t injured due to an adult’s poor choices.
Why Laws don't matter...
Yes, you read that correctly. Car seat laws do not matter. Now, before you go out and tell the police that I said it was okay to go ahead and break the law, read on...
With very few exceptions, child passenger safety laws in the United States (and in most of the world, actually) are several decades out of date. Laws do NOT tell you what is safe. They tell you what some state legislators—possibly 20 or more years ago—were able to agree should be the minimum standard for not getting a ticket.
So, yeah, you actually do need to follow the law. But being legal doesn’t make it safe or a good idea. It’s completely legal for me to jump out my second-floor window onto concrete, but I don’t plan on doing that. I could also legally let my three-year-old play with matches and sharp knives, or feed my newborn Reese’s Pieces, but I don’t do that either, because I know that those things could very easily result in severe harm to my kids.
What should you do instead? Follow current best practice recommendations. These are based in years of research by experts in the field. If you follow them, you’ll be doing everything you can to protect your child in the car. Since car crashes are the leading cause of death for children in the United States, you owe it to your kids to make this your top priority.