Triple A says New York’s car seat laws were once at the forefront of child passenger safety, but they no longer reflect current best practices.
According to a 2007 study from the University of Virginia, one-year-old children are five times more likely to suffer an injury in a crash if they are in a forward-facing seat compared to a rear-facing seat.
Current New York State law requires children to be in a car seat until they're four years old, but it doesn't distinguish between rear and forward-facing seats. The law was not modified since 2009, before the American Academy of Pediatrics revised its recommendations in 2011.
Senator Joseph Robach says that's why he is sponsoring legislation to update the law. It would require children to remain in a rear-facing car seat until the age of two.
"Adults, people say if they want to take a risk, it's a little bit more up to them; some people do have that ideology, even though no one wants to be involved in a fatal accident or have their insurance go up,” Robach said. “With children and young people we usually let science, technology, and safety speak for itself so I'm hopeful that this will become law."
Triple A is urging passage of the legislation, which also has a sponsor in the State Assembly.
"And there's a little bit of confusion with parents out there as to when they should switch them to forward-facing,” said Elizabeth Carey, a spokesperson for the auto club in Western and Central New York. “We're seeing a lot more head injuries and neck injuries when children are turned around too soon to be forward-facing."
A new analysis by Triple A showed that from 2011 to 2015, a one-year-old child was injured in an automobile crash once per day on average in New York State, or equivalent to 1,896 injuries over the five year period.