Child Passenger Safety

What You Should Know

• Every day children up to 12 years old sustain serious injuries or die in motor vehicle crashes.
• Many of these injuries and deaths can be avoided with the correct use of child safety seats and safety belts.
• When a child outgrows a rear-facing seat, the next step is a forward-facing seat, and lastly, into a belt-positioning booster seat that should be used until the child can fit properly in an adult safety belt.
• Many parents are unaware they are using the safety restraint incorrectly (or not at all), thereby placing their child at risk.

How Child Safety Seats Work

• The purpose of child safety seats is to reduce the number of child passengers killed or injured in motor vehicle crashes.
• The seats function by absorbing and safely distributing crash impact loads over the child's body while holding the child in place and preventing contact with the vehicles interior components or ejection from the vehicle.

Finding the Right Child Safety Seat

• Rear-facing Infant - Birth to 1 year and at least 20-22 lbs.
• Forward-facing - Over 1 year and over 20 lbs.-40 lbs.
• Belt Positioning Booster - Over 40 lbs. Ages 4-8, unless 4'9"

Child safety seat laws differ from state to state. Colorado child restraint laws cover babies and children up to four years of age or 40 pounds, and one-third of the state's laws also protect children over six years old.

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