Booster: It's the law

"Starting Monday, Maryland will enforce one of the strictest child-passenger safety laws in the country." Apparently the police will now be carrying scales to weigh the children and all parents will have their children's birth certificates at the ready when they are pulled over. Look's easily enforceable to me ...

Achtung, baby!

another intrusion by the state to raise revenue. Nothing but another tax on citizens.

Most good parents would not make an issue of booster seats, they would do it if it was law or not. But because we do have sutpid parents that don't care for thier own childs safety laws like this need to be passed to protect them.

It's sad that the writers of the article and the caption can't agree on their information. Is it 8 and under, or 7 and under?

Heaven forbid that things like seat belts, car seats and helmets should just be "recommended" instead of mandated under threat of criminal penalties. Imagine a world where adults made their own decisions about their and their childrens' lives without the nanny state there to extort revenue from them. Of course leave it to the Sun to support every new, intrusive law that comes down the pike. I wonder if they would support government registration and a waiting period before publishing a newspaper article.

I don't know where this reporter is shopping but i want to know where he/she is finding $30 carseats - especially anything that is rearfacing. Also, people wonder why young people have fewer children -- with the carseat laws you can't have a large family. Even you have 3 kids (which is considered a large family now) you need a minivan or an SUV and who can afford the bigger vehicles with the cost of gas!

I guess school busses will now be equipped with booster seats for younger children????

I'm all for car seats for small children, but what about the children riding school buses. The bus drivers have seat belts. It doesn't make sense to me that it is against the law for a child to ride in an automobile without a seat belt, but perfectly legal to ride a school bus without a seat belt.

no seat belts on school buses but the government says its looking out for the safty of our children. this is a law you can't enforce. you want safty BAN cell phone use while driving. oh! thats right our elected officials said that such a law could not be enforced. Whose votes are being paid for my whom????

And exactly what are the statistics of how many deaths have occurred without this law in place? I rmemebr quite well laying on the floor of the station wagon reading comic books on our way to Ocean City, or god forbid, my parents lowered the seat back onto the back seats and me and sis would lay there so we could watch the traiffc behind my parents. Now we woul rather strap our kids in and give them a DVD. Where exactly is the cost benefot here? I think most parents that really do care would be doing this already. Why a law? Yet another feel good law for the libs to make people think they are doing something when they are really not doing anything. If you REALLY wanted to save lives, you'd lower the speed limit on highways to 30 mph. But that is impractical. So is this stupid stupid law. Thank you MOM.

25 buck fine. another reason to pull us over on a busy interstate. (Papers please.)

Isn't it about time we just turn our children over to the state when they are born?

Clearly parents are not equipped to raise their own kids - if we must continue to have law upon law created to mandate our actions.

It's absolutely idiotic that we are requiring children the size of the smallest adults to be strapped in booster seats. But of course government intervention in thesematters at all is idiotic.

Welcome to governance of the idiots by the idiots for the idiots.

Please let me know where I can get a $30.00 carseat! The children I deal with 3 to 8 years old love their carseats. It enables them to see out the windows. I support this law, because I have seen the damage an auto accident can do to a child. I still regularly see children unrestrained, it makes me nervous!

Scott G wrote:

And exactly what are the statistics of how many deaths have occurred without this law in place? I rmemebr quite well laying on the floor of the station wagon reading comic books on our way to Ocean City, or god forbid, my parents lowered the seat back onto the back seats and me and sis would lay there so we could watch the traiffc behind my parents. Now we woul rather strap our kids in and give them a DVD. Where exactly is the cost benefot here? I think most parents that really do care would be doing this already. Why a law? Yet another feel good law for the libs to make people think they are doing something when they are really not doing anything. If you REALLY wanted to save lives, you'd lower the speed limit on highways to 30 mph. But that is impractical. So is this stupid stupid law. Thank you MOM.

I hear you, we never used seat belts when we were kids. There was no such thing as helmets when you were out riding your bike. We all turned out just fine. Back then the government was controlled by the people, today it seems its the other way around.

I don't think that it should be mandatory. Some people's cars are not big enough to handle that many carseats and booster seats. Where is everyone else supposed to sit. With gas prices as high as tehy are; you can't afford to take two cars. As long as they are in seatbelst; it shouldn't matter.

jpp wrote:

<quoted text>
I hear you, we never used seat belts when we were kids. There was no such thing as helmets when you were out riding your bike. We all turned out just fine. Back then the government was controlled by the people, today it seems its the other way around.

I mean, I could see if there was OVERWHELMING evidence there was an epidemic of kids that were 8 yrs old and getting killed in car crashes from not being buckled up properly, but I have seen little of that, and that where I question "whats the point?" its just a PR gimmick really. I hate to sound cold, but people are going to die in traffic accidents. Its tradgic. But to what point do we want a bunch of politicians legislating every aspect of our movement? If we wanted to really save lives, we could make everyone insulate themselves in a 2 ft depth of bubble wrap. But does that make sense? Im for sensible legislation, but I see little evidence this law was passed on that common sense.

Scott G wrote:

<quoted text> I mean, I could see if there was OVERWHELMING evidence there was an epidemic of kids that were 8 yrs old and getting killed in car crashes from not being buckled up properly, but I have seen little of that, and that where I question "whats the point?" its just a PR gimmick really. I hate to sound cold, but people are going to die in traffic accidents. Its tradgic. But to what point do we want a bunch of politicians legislating every aspect of our movement? If we wanted to really save lives, we could make everyone insulate themselves in a 2 ft depth of bubble wrap. But does that make sense? Im for sensible legislation, but I see little evidence this law was passed on that common sense.

If you scratch a little deeper, I think you'll find the auto insurance lobby driving all of these insane laws.

the nanny state gets bigger. The government knows best how to run your life.

It's time to fire these bureaucrats.