Child Passenger Safety Seat Installation

     The Fair Lawn Police Department now has three certified child passenger safety seat technicians on staff. The technicians, Officer Franco, Officer Callons and Sgt. Bastinck have all been certified by the National Automobile Association of America. All residents with children under 8 years old or children under 80 lbs are encouraged to have their child passenger safety seats inspected. National statistics reveal that approximately 90% of all child passenger safety seats are installed improperly and could increase the chances that a child could suffer death or serious injury in the event of a motor vehicle crash.

     The purpose of the program is to ensure that the seats are installed properly and to install them properly if they are not properly installed as well as to educate parents, grandparents and other caregivers as to the proper installation of a child safety seat as well as other issues regarding child passenger safety.

Why Child Safety Seats are Needed?

Every year, hundreds of children are killed or injured from being thrown against dashboards and windshields in a motor vehicle crash.  Often, this happens when a collision is avoided by a sudden stop or swerve.  Properly securing children in vehicles is the easiest and the most effective protection.

• When a car has a collision or suddenly stops at 20 mph, an unrestrained baby can hit the dashboard or windshield with the force of 400 pounds.
  
• At 30 mph, a 125-pound adult is thrown forward with the force of nearly two tons. A child on that adult's lap can be crushed between the adult and the vehicle--good reason why the "baby in arms" seating position is not safe.
  
• A correctly used safety seat prevents a child from being thrown about or out of the vehicle, and distributes the force of a crash more evenly over the child's body. Also, because the child seat is basically part of the vehicle, the vehicle itself absorbs some of the impact.

N.J. Passenger Restraint Law 
Read the law

     The use of car or booster seats are required in New Jersey for all passengers who are younger than 8 and weigh less than 80 pounds, making it the most stringent such requirement in the country.

     The law also requires the use of seat belts for children who are heavier or older, up to age 18, no matter where they are seated. Adults must wear seat belts only if seated up front.

     New Jersey's current child-restraint law was ranked last in child protection in a survey of the 50 states last year by Safe Kids, a child-safety group based in Washington.  New Jersey was one of 24 states to receive a failing grade in the survey.

     Booster seats are typically designed for children 30 pounds and up. They typically work by boosting a child several inches off the regular seat so that he or she can use the regular seat belt.

     Car seats are designed for smaller children and have their own harness or restraint system. A car seat tilts the child back slightly for added protection; children in booster seats sit upright.

     The various foam-padded seats differ widely in cost, ranging from $20 to more than $100, with features including headrests and cup holders.

     Both are acceptable under the new law, which allows police to ticket drivers for each child not using such seats.

     A handful of other states have enacted booster-seat laws, but none have the age and weight limits as high as New Jersey's, according to federal data. A few do have stronger penalties.

     Drivers in New Jersey from out of state are subject to the new law, but New Jersey officials said those motorists likely would be issued a warning instead of a ticket - at first.

39:3-76.2a  Child passenger restraint system; booster seat, use; failure to use not contributory negligence; inadmissibility in evidence.

     1.  Every person operating a motor vehicle, other than a school bus, equipped with safety belts who is transporting a child under the age of eight years and weighing less than 80 pounds on roadways, streets or highways of this State, shall secure the child in a child passenger restraint system or booster seat, as described in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Number 213, in a rear seat.  If there are no rear seats, the child shall be secured in a child passenger restraint system or booster seat, as described in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Number 213.  In no event shall failure to wear a child passenger restraint system or to use a booster seat be considered as contributory negligence, nor shall the failure to wear the child passenger restraint system be admissible as evidence in the trial of any civil action.  L.1983,c.128,s.1; amended 2001, c.244, s.1.

39:3-76.2f  Seat belt usage requirements for persons ages 8-18; driver's responsibility.

     2.  a. Except as provided in P.L.1983, c.128 (C.39:3-76.2a et al.) for children under eight years of age and weighing less than 80 pounds, all passengers under eight years of age and weighing more than 80 pounds, and all passengers who are at least eight years of age but less than 18 years of age, and each driver and front seat passenger of a passenger automobile operated on a street or highway in this State shall wear a properly adjusted and fastened safety seat belt system as defined by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Number 209.

     The driver of a passenger automobile shall secure or cause to be secured in a properly adjusted and fastened safety seat belt system, as defined by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Number 209, any passenger who is at least eight years of age but less than 18 years of age.

     For the purposes of the "Passenger Automobile Seat Belt Usage Act," the term "passenger automobile" shall include vans, pick-up trucks and utility vehicles.