Provisions in Vermont Law are often what guide parents and other caregivers when they are making decisions on how to most safely transport their children.

Current law provides only minimum protection for children, especially those between the ages of 8-12 years. Many children 8-12 years old have outgrown child car seats but are not big enough for the car’s seatbelts to fit them or to adequately protect them in the event of a car crash. A booster seat is needed for these children to raise them up so the car’s seat belts fit them properly.

The new law (effective January 1, 2004):

Title 23: Motor Vehicles
Chapter 13: Operation of Vehicles
1258. Child restraint systems; persons under age 16

§ 1258. Child restraint systems; persons under age 16
(a) No person shall operate a motor vehicle, other than a type I school bus, in this state upon a public highway unless every occupant under age 16 is properly restrained in a federally-approved child passenger restraining system as defined in 49 C.F.R. § 571.213 (1993) or a federally-approved safety belt, as follows:

(1) all children under the age of one, and all children weighing less than 20 pounds, regardless of age, shall be restrained in a rear-facing position, properly secured in a federally-approved child passenger restraining system, which shall not be installed in front of an active air bag;

(2) a child weighing more than 20 pounds, and who is one year of age or older and under the age of eight years, shall be restrained in a child passenger restraining system; and

(3) a child eight through 15 years of age shall be restrained in a safety belt system or a child passenger restraining system.
(b) A person shall not be adjudicated in violation of this section if:
(1) the motor vehicle is regularly used to transport passengers for hire except a motor vehicle owned or operated by a child care facility;
(2) the motor vehicle was manufactured without safety belts; or
(3) the person has been ordered by an enforcement officer, a firefighter, or an authorized civil authority to evacuate persons from a stricken area.
(c) The penalty for violation of this section shall be as follows:
(1) $25.00 for a first violation;
(2) $50.00 for a second violation;
(3) $100.00 for third and subsequent violations.