Colorado Booster Seat Law

Booster seats work with adult seat belts.

In 2003, Colorado implemented tougher laws governing child passenger safety (CPS). Administered and funded by state and federal agencies, CPS Team Colorado publicizes and provides advice regarding the law. The group claims that 90 percent of the child safety seats they inspect are incorrectly installed. Following the law is just the first step to keeping your child safe while in a motor vehicle.

Child Passenger Safety Law

Under Colorado law, drivers must ensure that all children are properly secured prior to every trip. Colorado's child restraint laws cover kids 15 years of age and younger. Individuals 15 and older are governed by the state's seat belt law.
Colorado mandates booster seats for all children who are 4 to 5 years old and less than 55 inches tall. Children who are 6 through 15 or 55 inches and taller can utilize an adult safety belt. Parents and other caretakers must secure children between the ages of 1 and 3 who weigh 20 to 40 pounds in a forward-facing child safety seat. Infants under 1 and less than 20 pounds must occupy a rear-facing infant seat. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rates Colorado's child restraint law as "good," its top ranking.

Enforcement

CPS Team Colorado notes that the fine for violating the state's child restraint law is a minimum of $58.50. You can be cited for each unrestrained child in your vehicle. The portion of the law governing booster seats falls under secondary enforcement. Drivers must be stopped for another traffic offense before they can receive a citation for a booster seat violation. The law applies to kids traveling in non-commercial private and childcare center-operated vehicles.

Significance

CPS Team Colorado stresses the importance of properly restraining children to reduce the risk of injury or death in a motor vehicle crash. Between 2003 and 2007, the group notes that over half of the 30 4- to 7-year-olds who died in motor vehicle crashes were not correctly restrained in car seats, booster seats or seat belts. For all children, birth to age 14, involved in car crashes during that period, more than 60 percent of the dead were either not using or not properly using a restraint device.

Booster Seat Specifics

Although Colorado law mandates booster seats until a child is 6 years of age or 55 inches tall, CPS Team Colorado offers different advice. They contend it is safer to keep a child in a booster seat until he reaches a height of 57 inches. Seat belts, according to CPS Team Colorado, should only be used when a child can sit all the way back against the vehicle's seat, bend his knees comfortably at the end of the vehicle's seat, stay seated for a whole trip and when an adult seat belt crosses the shoulder between the neck and arm and the lap belt is as low as possible. making contact with the thighs.

Exemptions

Colorado allows for certain exemptions to its CPS law, including the booster seat stipulation. Children traveling in medical emergency as well as those in commercial vehicles, such as a school bus, are exempt. If a child is at least 4 years old and less than 55 inches tall and the vehicle does not have a shoulder/lap combination, the child may use a lap belt only in lieu of a booster seat.

References

• Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS): Colorado Laws and Regulations Summary
• Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Team Colorado: Colorado Child Passenger Fact Sheet 2008
• Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Team Colorado: Colorado CPS Law
• Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Team Colorado: CPS Law One-Page Fact Sheet