As people look ahead to what’s coming up in the new year, 2019 will have more young Illinois children looking back.
A state law that takes effect New Year’s Day requires children to ride in rear-facing car seats until they’re 2 years old, weigh 40 pounds or are 40 inches tall, making recommendations from child-safety advocates into Illinois law.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and lawmakers approved the change earlier this year. Now, not following the new rules could land a driver with a fine of $75 the first violation, and $200 for each one after that, according to the Illinois State Police.
State law already required drivers to use a “child restraint system” for children under 8 years old, but it didn’t specify which way the car seat had to face.
Advocates have recommended rear-facing seats for younger children for years, saying they’re safer. This year, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended parents keep their kids in rear-facing seats as long as possible.
“Fortunately, car seat manufacturers have created seats that allow children to remain rear-facing until they weigh 40 pounds or more, which means most children can remain rear-facing past their second birthday,” Dr. Benjamin Hoffman, chairman of the AAP Council on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention, said in a statement this year. “It’s best to keep your child rear-facing as long as possible. This is still the safest way for children to ride.”
Democratic state Sen. Michael Hastings of Tinley Park, a sponsor of the law, likened the new car seat rules to the original mandatory seat belt law, saying people will get used to it and rear-facing seats will become standard practice. He noted the fear parents can feel on their first drive home from the hospital after a child is born.
“We drove 20 mph the whole way,” he said.
The new state law is one of more than 250 that take effect Jan. 1, the last such batch of big changes under Rauner. The car seat law was approved nearly unanimously by lawmakers. The only dissenting vote came from Republican state Sen. Kyle McCarter of downstate Lebanon, who has been nominated by President Donald Trump to be the U.S. ambassador to Kenya.
The Illinois State Police say they’ve been trying to notify the public about the car seat changes via social media and at safety events and will continue to do so. Asked if offenders in the early days of the law will get warnings, a spokeswoman said, “we will enforce this new change in law in order to keep all children traveling on the roadways safe.”
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December 31, 2018 at 06:03AM
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