Published on Tuesday, February 13, 2007
in the WJHG News

Got Protection?

Florida already has a law requiring safety seats for young kids, but child advocates in Tallahassee say that’s not good enough.

This is Child Passenger Safety Week, and Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Kim Miller is warning parents that traffic crashes are the number one cause of death for kids between the ages of four and seven.

Trooper Miller says vehicles are extremely dangerous for a baby.

''Parents don’t realize the most dangerous place for a child to be is in the car, and these seats provide the extra protection and it does make a difference between life and death. We’ve worked so many crashes over the last several years where kids have been saved in these car seats. We unbuckle them; there’s not a scratch on them. They go right back to their parents.”

State law says anyone under the age of four has to be secured in a child safety seat, but Miller says older kids need protection too.

Safety advocates are backing a bill filed by Representative Thad Altman (R-Melbourne) that would require child booster seats for any kids between the ages of four and seven.