Essay
Essay for bill S.F. No. 4488
The reason this bill should be passed is because of the safety of all children and adults in their moving transportation. A child two or younger should be restrained in a rear-facing child restraint system, for their safety they should also be seated in the back seat of the vehicle. The weight for a child to sit in a backwards facing seat is 35lbs. That is about the weight of a typical cylinder block. The height is 32 inches or 81.28 centimeters tall according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (.Gov) and Minnesota Department of Public Safety (.Gov). I think that this is important because if the vehicle gets in an accident the air bag would suffocate and kill the infant.
A child that is Two or older or that meets the rear-facing weight or height limit that is 40- 50 lbs according to Child Passenger Safety/ Polk County MN and What are Child Seat Laws in Minnesota can sit in a forward facing “Forward facing child restraint system”. The bad thing about this type of restraint is that the straps hold the shoulders back in an accident but it does not hold the neck back and can throw the head and neck forward and may cause injury or even death.
A child that has reached the age of four or has met the weight (65lbs about the weight of a dalmatian.) or height (49 inches or 124.26 centimeter) limit of the “forward facing booster seat” according to Child Passenger Safety/ Minnesota department of Public Safety. Once The child has reached the age of nine or the weight limit of 65 lbs they can sit in a regular booster seat. I think that the child should have to feel confident and the parents should feel comfortable with how old a child is and how responsible/ able they are to sit in the front seat. In my opinion it should be up to the parents/ guardians to decide when their child can sit in the front seat of the moving vehicle. But some parents/ guardians don't think about the safety of the children in the moving vehicle. So the bill I want to pass is about safety to the state of Minnesota and the safety of the transportation vehicles. (Of course this does not apply to any bicycles, farm tractors, motorcycle, motor driven cycle, school bus, ambulance or any other emergency vehicle, church bus, private bus, or recreational vehicle that has ten or more persons, or commercial truck, van or taxi).
Thank you for listening and please consider passing my bill! Thank you!
