Officials say booster seat effective in keeping kids safe

State officials say the booster seat law Minnesota enacted last year is making a noticeable impact in passenger safety on the state's roads.

The law went into effect about the same time as the state's primary seat belt law. It requires a child who is both under age 8 and shorter than 4 feet 9 inches to be fastened in a child safety seat or booster.

State officials said that before the law took effect, less than half of children involved in vehicle accidents were in booster seats.

"Since the law became effective in July of 2009, 59 percent of the children involved in crashes were in boosters," said Heather Darby, a child safety coordinator with the Department of Public Safety. "So it's an increase of about 15 percent."

Darby said that number translates into about 1,000 more children in booster seats who didn't suffer injuries.

Safety officials say that even kids who outgrow booster seats should stay in the back seat of passenger vehicles until they're 12 years old.