Bill Would Require Rear-Facing Car Seats For Children Under 2 In Mass.

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, DEC. 19, 2019 (State House News Service) -- In the event of a crash, a rear-facing car seat "acts like a turtle shell" to reduce the impact for infant and toddler passengers, according to Boston Children's Hospital's injury prevention specialist.

"At Children's, I see the impact car seat direction and placement has on kids' safety on a daily basis," Barbara DiGirolamo told the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday. "The law that is currently written is not strong enough to keep our kids safe. Why is a rear-facing car seat so critical? Because it protects the whole head, neck and spine of a child, absorbing the majority of the crash forces the body would sustain. When you guys hit your brakes really quickly, your whole head, neck and body goes forward."

Under state law, kids younger than age 8 must "be fastened and secured by a child passenger restraint" unless they're more than 57 inches tall.

Sen. Barry Finegold filed a bill (S 1411) that would add a new requirement to the car seat law -- rear-facing seats for children under age 2 or weighing less than 30 pounds.

Diana Imondi of AAA Northeast, who testified alongside DiGirolamo, said the bill would not force parents to purchase new or different car seats, but would clarify how the seats should be installed in the car.

Violators of the current law can be subject to a penalty of up to $25. Imondi said many police officers instead will often issue a warning and help parents make sure they can get a car seat installed correctly.

Finegold said 13 states and Washington, D.C. have already adopted laws that require kids under age 2 to ride-rear facing, and called it a "really important" safety measure.

Imondi said infants and toddlers can sustain significant neck and spinal trauma in a crash if they're facing the front of the car, and that children in their second year of life are five times less likely to die in a crash if they're restrained rear-facing, as compared to those riding-front facing.

"The injury that we're asking you to protect young children against is something called internal decapitation, and most children do not survive that injury," she said.

Committee co-chair Sen. Michael Moore, a father of two, said he "would have been panicked" not being able to see his children's faces riding in the car with them when they were younger. He asked supporters if the bill if there were any issues associated with such parent concerns.

Imondi said that question comes up a lot, but data and research support the safety benefits of rear-facing seats.

"We have to put them to bed at night, so we don't see them for X amount of hours," she said.