This week, Representative Chris Turner (HD 101- Grand Prairie) filed HB 519, which would update state law by requiring that children be restrained in a rear-facing car seat until the age of two, unless the child weighs more than 40 pounds or exceeds 40 inches in height. This measure mirrors American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) car seat recommendations, standards that have already been passed into law in numerous other states, including Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California.
According to a 2007 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children under the age of two are about 75 percent less likely to die or sustain serious injury in a rear-facing car seat than a forward-facing one.
“Keeping Texas children safe should always be our top priority,” said Turner. “By updating our outdated child car seat laws, we will better protect the youngest Texans and ultimately save lives.”
“Current Texas law is lacking when it comes to protecting our youngest and most vulnerable children from motor vehicle accidents,” said Joyce Elizabeth Mauk, MD, President of the Texas Pediatric Society, the Texas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Pediatricians recommend a rear-facing child safety seat until the age of two because it does a better job of supporting the head, neck and spine of infants and toddlers in a crash, distributing the force of the collision over the entire body.”
Turner’s bill has already garnered a great deal of support. Organizations endorsing the measure include: the Texas Pediatric Society, Texas Children’s Hospitals of Texas, Safe Kids Austin, Texas Hospital Association, CLEAT, Texas EMS Trauma & Acute Care Foundation, Texas Nurses Association, Texas State Association of Firefighters, Texas EMS Alliance, and AAA Texas. During the 2015 Legislative Session, a similar measure by Turner was passed out of the House Committee on Transportation.
State Senator Judith Zaffirini has filed the Senate companion (SB 278).
