Sununu signs Fenton's car seat bill into law

May 16, 2023

Fenton

Democratic state Sen. Donovan Fenton of Keene hopes his child-car-seat bill, signed into law by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu last week, could one day save the life of a baby or toddler.

Senate Bill 118, which will go into effect next year, requires that children under the age of 2 be restrained in a rear-facing car seat in motor vehicles.

Current statute requires young children to be in a child-restraint system until they are 7 years old or 57 inches tall, but it doesn’t have a rear-facing car-seat requirement.

Fenton said that requirement can save a young person.

“This is immensely important,” said Fenton, who has two young sons. “It is safeguarding our most valuable resource — children.”

In the event of a crash, a rear-facing car seat protects a young child’s body, including the critical neck area, by better absorbing the crash impact, Fenton said.

Babies’ heads are large in proportion to their bodies, and their spines are still developing. This makes them more vulnerable to injury if they snap forward in a crash while riding in a front-facing seat, according to the nonprofit Car Seats for the Littles, which provides instruction on safe use of car seats.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend babies and toddlers use rear-facing car seats until they outgrow the devices.

The N.H. Senate passed Fenton’s bill, SB 118, in a voice vote Feb. 9, and the House passed it 192-173 on June 8.

The House Transportation Committee recommended, 11-9, on May 16 that the full House pass the bill.

Rep. Ted Gorski, R-Bedford, a member of the committee, wrote a statement for those on the panel who opposed the bill.

“The minority felt that educating parents on the merits of rear facing car seats is an effective approach,” he said. “Mandating a law is unnecessary. In addition, during testimony, it was stated that crashes with children in this age group are extremely low.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that in 2020, 607 people 12 or younger were killed in motor vehicle crashes in the United States and more than 63,000 were injured.

On March 16, the N.H. House voted 206-162 to kill another measure, House Bill 222, which would have required New Hampshire to join the rest of the nation in requiring adults to wear seat belts. New Hampshire law requires only drivers and passengers under 18 to do so.

Most Democrats favored the measure, and most Republicans opposed it.

In testimony before the N.H. House Transportation Committee in February, proponents of HB 222, including doctors and safety experts, said driving is a privilege, not a right, and that families are harmed, emergency workers are traumatized and there’s a financial cost to society when people are maimed or killed in crashes because they weren’t belted in.

Opponents of requiring adults to use seat belts told the committee this would interfere with personal freedom and that not using the safety device is a victimless “crime.”

A 2021 study funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows seat belt usage at 75.5 percent in New Hampshire, the lowest in the nation.

Fenton said he doesn’t understand why some people don’t wear seat belts.

“I just think wearing a seat belt is smart, it saves lives,” he said.

Rick Green can be reached at [email protected] or 603-355-8567.

Fenton

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