All parents want to keep their children safe. Understanding Florida’s car seat laws is a good first step in helping to ensure your child’s safety. However, compliance with Florida law is often not enough to fully protect your child. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Safety Council strongly recommend that parents take additional precautions when deciding when and where a child should ride in a vehicle.
What Does Florida Law Require?
Florida Statute § 316.613 establishes the state’s child restraint requirements. Children from birth through age three must ride in a federally-approved, crash-tested child restraint device.
Children ages 4 and 5 must use an individual carrier, integrated child seat, or booster seat. Under Florida law, children aged six and older can legally use a regular seat belt.
The penalties for violating these laws include a $60 fine and three points on your driver’s license.
Not Required by Florida Law, But Recommended For Your Child’s Safety
Florida’s laws focus on children’s ages rather than each child’s size. Every child grows differently, but the law treats them identically if they’re the same age. The federal government and every major safety organization base their guidelines on height and weight, not age, when what matters is how the seat belt fits during a crash.
The law also doesn’t specify when children should face forward versus backward, how long they should stay in a harness, or when booster seats become appropriate based on a child’s physical development.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provide guidelines that offer greater protection for children:
- Keep your child in a rear-facing seat as long as the seat manufacturer allows, which is typically until age 2 or 3. Rear-facing seats reduce fatal injuries by over 70 percent because they support the head, neck, and spine during a crash.
- When your child outgrows rear-facing seats, move them to a forward-facing seat with a five-point harness. Children should stay in the five-point harness seat until they reach the maximum weight limit.
- After outgrowing the forward-facing harness, children need booster seats until the vehicle’s seat belt fits properly, with the lap belt across the upper thighs and the shoulder belt crossing their chest and shoulder. Most children don’t achieve adequate seat belt fit until they’re at least 4 feet 9 inches tall, which is typically between ages 8 and 12.
- Children should ride in the back seat until at least age 13.
Following Safety Recommendations Also Strengthens Your Claim For Damages
Even when you follow every safety guideline, crashes still happen because of other drivers’ negligence. Distracted drivers, drunk drivers, and reckless drivers put families at risk every day on Fort Lauderdale roads.
If your child was injured in a crash caused by another driver, showing that they were properly restrained and sitting in the recommended car seat can help strengthen your case by showing that you did everything possible to protect your child. Insurance companies may try to minimize payouts after any accident, but they can’t argue your child’s injuries resulted from improper restraint when you followed all the rules.
When a child is not properly restrained, it can complicate a claim even when another driver caused the accident. While Florida law prohibits using car seat violations as evidence of comparative negligence in civil court, insurance adjusters still try to use them during settlement negotiations to reduce what they pay. Speak to a professional accident attorney in Fort Lauderdale for more information.
Contact Rosen Injury Law To Discuss Your Car Accident Claim
If your child was injured in a car accident caused by another party’s negligence or wrongdoing, you have the right to seek compensation for your damages. At Rosen Injury Law, we have a proven record of securing maximum compensation for our clients. Let us help you recover every dollar you are entitled to. Call (954) 787-1500 or visit our contact page and schedule a free consultation to discuss your claim.