Child Safety Seat Sales Brisk as New Law Ups Age

After a year restrained only by seat belts when he was in a car, 4 1/2-year-old Shane Falzon of Camarillo returned Tuesday to the snug confines of a child safety seat. And he couldn’t be happier.

“I told him a month and a half ago that he would have to go back to a car seat at the beginning of the year and he was all excited,” said Shane’s mother, Cheryl Falzon. “When New Year’s came and he didn’t have a booster seat, he said, ‘Where is my seat?’ ”

Senate Bill 42, which went into effect Tuesday, requires that children be secured in a child safety seat or booster seat until they are 6 years old or weigh 60 pounds. Previously, children could forgo safety seats once they turned 4 or reached 40 pounds.

Shane was one of the children affected be the law. So Falzon took him to Wal-Mart in Oxnard on Tuesday, where he eagerly picked out a booster seat with a cup holder.

“How long that excitement is going to last, I don’t know,” Falzon said.

Drivers who violate the law can be fined $100 for a first offense and $250 for a second.

California Highway Patrol Sgt. Doug Howell said officers have been instructed to begin issuing tickets immediately to drivers who don’t restrain older children in car seats. They can give warnings to people who have children in the wrong type of seat or don’t use seats properly.

Howell did not know Tuesday if any tickets had been issued.

Judging by booster seat sales, people were rushing to comply with the law by Jan. 1. While Babies R Us in Oxnard has been selling about 15% more of the seats than usual since October, the real rush came Monday, said assistant manager Cassie Maldonado.

“Most people who came in said they needed a booster seat,” Maldonado said. “They were flying off the shelf.”

Maldonado and Boake Terry, manager of Wal-Mart in Oxnard, where booster seat sales have also been brisk, both said they didn’t hear any parents complaining about the new law.

“The parents are sold,” Maldonado said. “A lot of times it’s the child who isn’t particularly excited.”

Booster seats with cup holders, like the one Shane picked out, were top sellers as parents trying to persuade their children that returning to a car seat would be fun let their kids pick which model to buy, Maldonado said.

Cheryl Falzon thinks it is a good law. She knew shoulder belts didn’t fit Shane right before, but she just tucked them behind his arm.

“It forces people like me into doing what they should,” Falzon said. “And since it’s a law, I can tell him it’s a rule.”

Howell said the new law targets a high-risk group.

Statistics show that traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in children ages 4 to 16. Although 47% of the children ages 4 to 7 who are killed in car accidents are completely unrestrained, many of those who wear seat belts are also at risk, Howell said, because a shoulder harness or lap belt that doesn’t fit right can cause injuries. Only 6% of 4- to 6-year-olds had been using booster seats before the new law.

“Hopefully,” Howell said, “it will enhance the safety of those kids who can’t think for themselves.”