Louisiana’s new child safety seat law that goes into effect August 1st is being considered the best in the country by national safety experts. State Police Lt. Nick Manale says the new laws reflect some of the best practices that safety experts have been pushing for years.
“All the guidelines can be found on our Facebook page, our website, and most importantly, the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission’s page,” said Manale.
The new law requires anyone under 13 to ride in the backseat. Manale says the idea behind the law isn’t to add any more grief or inconvenience for parents but to keep kids in protective categories even longer.
“That’s going to be the trend that you see with the changes in the guidelines. We want to keep children rear-facing for longer, we want to keep children in that five-point harness and that forward-facing seat for longer,” said Manale.
Manale says for many years the state had fallen behind on the trends of car seat safety, but firmly believes the new law is changing that.
“Working closely with the University Medical Center in New Orleans, the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission, and everyone who has such an important role and to this bill here are really happy to see that we are promoting best practices,” said Manale.
Manale says the law is a primary offense, which means if an officer sees a child is not restrained at all, the officer can pull that vehicle over.
