Child safety seats for 8-year-olds suffers temporary defeat

Annapolis (Map, News) - In a small victory for opponents of the “nanny state,” a tie vote in the Maryland Senate on Thursday defeated an effort to require vehicle safety seats for children up to 8 years old.

But the win may be only temporary as supporters of the measure, backed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and linked to federal funds, will try to revive it by reconsidering the vote.

“This is a fairly large imposition that we’re going to be putting on citizens,” said Baltimore County Sen. Bobby Zirkin, one of 13 Democrats joining 10 Republicans in voting against the bill. “Did it save lives?”

“We’ve saved so many lives of children” with child safety seats, said Sen. Norman Stone, D-Baltimore County.

“We don’t do this just to put burdens on parents.”

Current law requires child safety seats for children 4 or younger or weighing less than 40 pounds. Stone said children older than that have suffered injuries using adult belts.

The main objection to the bill sponsored by Montgomery County Sen. Jennie Forehand was that it applied to every child under 8 regardless of the child’s height or weight.

Under the proposed law, a doctor could certify that use of a child booster seat was “impractical.”

“I think they’d be afraid to give an exception,” said Sen. Mike Lenett, D-Montgomery.

Sen. Nancy King, a Montgomery County Democrat, wondered if she was “going to have to buy booster seats for all the kids that are in my car.”

When told she would, King then voted against it.

llazarick@baltimoreexaminer.com