Booster Seat Safety Improves
Every three minutes, someone dies in a car accident. Since all 50 states now require car restraints for children, the number of kids dying in a car crash has been dramatically reduced. Car accidents kill more kids between the ages of 3 and 14 than anything else. Recent statistics show that states with stronger child restraint laws -- including booster seats which use the car's seat belts for older kids, are saving more children. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released their latest recommendations. Usng test dummies representing an average six-year-old, they were able to measure the effectiveness of each seat. Out of 83 booster seats evaluated, a record 31 seats were listed as best bets, meaning they were safe and effective. Five of the seats evaluated were good bets and six were not recommended. The fit is key. Lap belts should lie flat across the child's upper thighs and the shoulder belt cross snugly over the middle of the shoulder.Police: Dad used 9-year-old daughter as 'designated driver'
Kids say the darnedest things. Take the 9-year-old who was sitting in a booster seat behind the wheel of a van when she was pulled over by police outside Detroit. “What did you stop me for?" she reportedly told an officer. "I was driving good."
Maybe so. But Brownstown Township police say they nonetheless arrested her father, Shawn Weimer, 39, for allegedly employing the girl as his chauffeur after he had too much to drink.
Surveillance video from a gas station convenience store shows the man bragging that his daughter was only 9 years old and "drove all the way here ... and parked!" He refers to her as his “designated driver.”
The video also shows the man dancing in the parking lot while the girl walks back to their van.
Someone who overheard Weimer in the gas station alerted police. Weimer was arrested about 3 a.m. on Oct. 8 when police pulled over his van and indeed found the girl in the booster seat behind the wheel. Brownstown Township Det. Lt. Robert Grant said the girl acted surprised when the officer appeared at her window.