
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 10, 1990                   TAG: 9005100048
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Joe Kennedy
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

DON'T GIVE UP CAR SEATS TOO SOON

Bill Hall says parents sometimes are too quick to take a child out of a safety seat, particularly if a younger child needs to use it.

Hall, a research associate at the Highway Safety Research Center of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, says children should be kept in their convertible car seats at least until they weigh 40 pounds, even though some manufacturers say their booster seats can be used by children weighing as little as 20 pounds.

"Make sure they do stay in their safety seats to 40 pounds," he says. "Then, beyond that . . . the choice is between the seatbelt and the booster seat."

Other advice for child car safety:

The best booster seats for children in the 40- to 70-pound range are designed to make a lap and shoulder belt fit a small child correctly when used without a shield, says the American Academy of Pediatrics. If a booster seat is used with a lap belt alone, it must have a shield in place.

Booster seats with large shields provide more protection than those with small shields, the academy says.

A small-shield booster seat provides more protection than a lap belt alone if the lap belt cannot be made to fit low on the child's hips or if it slides up when the child moves around.

Another benefit of a booster seat is that it enables a child to see out the car window, Hall says.

by CNB