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Baby Seats are the Law in Virginia

Breit, Drescher and Imprevento is an injury law firm that helps victims of car accidents, motorcycle accidents, truck accidents, medical malpractice, slips and falls and faulty product injuries. For as long as we have been in practice, we have made it a point to vigorously defend the rights of injury victims in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and the Tidewater area of Virginia. If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident due to no fault of your own, contact the law offices of Breit, Drescher and Imprevento for a free legal consultation today.

Anyone who thinks that Virginia Beach and Norfolk are sleepy, serene southern towns has obviously never been there. Norfolk is one of the biggest port towns on the east coast, and every day hundreds of trucks are moving in and out of our ports. On top of that, we have thousands of military personnel and hundreds of thousands of civilians, the great majority of whom drive everywhere.

But even if traffic in the Tidewater area of Virginia was placid and free of traffic jams, not wearing a seatbelt would be the worst thing that you can do, and not properly restraining your children is not only unforgivably careless, but it is also against the law.

In Virginia it is required that infants, toddlers and small children are secured in automobiles with the use of infant seats, adjustable seats, or booster seats. These rules don’t exist because the government of Virginia wants to make your life difficult. They exist because these seats save lives. Automotive safety experts figured out a long time ago that toddlers and infants are quite a bit more fragile than adults, and these safety seats are designed and built specifically to reflect that.

Restraining your child properly is not difficult or time consuming. Every seat that is available on the market comes with instructions, and some even come with DVD’s that show you exactly what to do. But there are different sorts of seats that vary according to the size and weight of your child. Here are some tips on which one you should purchase to use for your child.

Infant Seats: These are for babies that weigh anywhere under 22 pounds, are less than two feet in length, or are under one year old. You must place the seat so it is facing the rear of the vehicle. And you should never place the child in the front seat if you have passenger side airbags. Children and even drivers who are short in stature have been killed by collisions with deployed airbags.

Child Safety Seats (Convertible): This is the intermediate version of the safety seat, and it is for toddlers who weigh less than forty pounds. If the child is under one year old, you should still keep him or her in the back and have the seat towards the rear of the car. Once the child is over a year old, it is acceptable to turn the seat around towards the front. You should always be aware of your child’s weight and height and follow the instructions of the seat to adjust its settings accordingly.

Booster Seats: These can be difficult to use and enforce, as your children might start to resent being put in it once they get past a certain age, but using these is paramount to your children’s safety. These are for children who are four to eight years old who weigh between 40 and 80 pounds and are just under four feet and nine inches in length. They are basically a stop gap measure until a regular safety belt can safely fit around his or her waist. If your child is big enough to use a booster seat, it is safe enough to have the child facing forward.

It is difficult to adequately express the pain and sorrow that the parents of a child that has been injured or killed in a car accident must go through, but that pain must be even worse if the death or injury occurs due to the child not being properly restrained. Make sure that your children are properly restrained in any vehicle that they are in.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Hampton or anywhere in the Tidewater area of Virginia, contact Breit, Drescher and Imprevento for a free legal consultation today.

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