State booster seat law to change

LATHAM - Guilderland mom Melissa Anderson has a 9-year-old daughter, a 6-year old-son and another baby on the way. Even with all that parenting experience, she admitted that car seat rules can be confusing.

"Just seems like all the time something is changing, and I'm not sure. Seat, no seat. Car seat. Booster seat. Back on the booster seat? There's a lot of options," Anderson said.

Right now, New York State requires children age 4 to 7 to ride in a booster seat. But on Nov. 24 the law will change, applying to children to age 8.

It's a move that Cindy Dort of the Cornell Cooperative Extension said is overdue.

"Children have come out of booster seats the minute they've turned seven and they're way too small to be sitting in a lap and shoulder belt," Dort said.

Dort gave Melissa's kids a test fitting on the seats at Babies R Us, showing how for her 6-year-old son the booster seat is a safety must.

"Her 6-year-old, you saw how he fit much better in the booster seat with that lap and shoulder belt than he did sitting on the seat itself," Dort said.

It's information this mother was glad to sort out for safety's sake.

"I'll just leave him as is, until he's 8 years old and then he can just come out of the booster I guess,and hopefully be just as safe," Anderson said.

Even though the law is changing for booster seats to kids up to age 8, Dort recommends that a child is also four feet, nine inches tall or 100 pounds before riding without that booster seat.