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Motor Vehicle Safety

We urge you to take these simple steps. Seat belts save lives. They could save your child’s!

  • Infants must be in a rear-facing car-seat until they are 20 pounds and 1 year of age.
  • Children from one year of age and between 20 and 40 pounds should be in a forward facing car-seat.
  • Children may transition to a booster seat at 40 pounds and must remain in the booster seat until 5 years of age by law in Massachusetts. Recent recommendations urge parents to keep them in booster seats longer than required by law; they should remain in the booster seat until the seat belt fits across their hips properly, usually at about 4 feet 8 inches tall. This is about 8 years of age. There is legislation pending to make this the law in Massachusetts. Children who have outgrown their booster seats must be in a seat-belt.
  • Children under 13 years of age cannot be in the front seat of a car with a passenger side air-bag.
  • All children should be in the back seat whenever possible.
  • Children whose parents buckle up, buckle up too!!

For more information about motor vehicle safety, visit www.aap.org