Declan is four years old and has yet to start Kindergarten. Xavier is eight, has a cellphone and is preparing to start Grade 3.
Four years separate the two boys, but when it comes to getting around by car, they require the same equipment. Declan and Xavier both still use a booster seat.
“As a good rule of thumb, children need to be in a restraint until they are 4’9″ tall,” Graco assistant brand manager Lila Toholsky said.
“That can vary in terms of weight. We know that children grow at different rates in terms of weight and height.”
Declan and Xavier are prime examples of that range. The four-year-old weighs only two pounds less than the eight-year-old.
READ MORE: Parents moving kids out of booster seats too early: study
Canadian provinces and territories have a range of booster seat legislation. Most require children to ride in a booster seat until they are a minimum of 4’9″, a minimum of 80 lbs, or a minimum of eight to 10 years old. Alberta, Nunavut and Northwest Territories are the only regions in Canada without laws around booster seats.
Kathy Belton, with the University of Alberta Injury Prevention Centre, considers that “startling.”
“Sometimes I really wish Canada had harmonized traffic safety legislation but we are a long way from that.”
Belton says legislation would give parents a clear sign that using booster seats is an “expected behaviour.”
“When you have a three-year-old, four-year-old, eight-year-old, you need to make sure that the seat belt is positioned correctly or the seat belt can actually do damage. Some of these kids are just too small for the seat belt and therefore they risk going underneath if there’s a collision, coming right out of the seat belt.”
Booster seats reduce the risk of serious injury by 45 per cent compared to seat belts alone for children between four and eight years, according to a 2009 study in Pediatrics.
-with files from Minna Rhee
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