Currently Saskatchewan does not legally enforce booster seats for children even though Safe Kids Canada says car collisions are the leading cause of death for Canadian children under the age of 14-years-old.
By age 4, children in Saskatchewan can legally ride in a vehicle with no other protection except for an adult seat belt.
Booster seats lift children up so that the seat belt fits correctly. When a child is too small for a seat belt, it touches the child’s neck and rests too high on his/her stomach. Without a booster seat, your child could be seriously injured in a crash.
“We would recommend Saskatchewan join the rest of Canada with booster seat legislation which would protect kids from age 4 until 9, at 4’9″ or 145cm,” said pediatrician Susanna Martin.
According to Transport Canada, each year 3,500 children are injured in vehicle collisions while on average another 61 are killed.
Currently Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories do not have mandatory booster seat legislation.
Although Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) encourages the use of booster seats, there’s currently no legislative action to make it a law.
According to the Canadian Pediatric Society, children who use seat belts instead of booster seats are 3.5 times more likely to suffer a serious injury and 4 times more likely to suffer a head injury.
For information and demonstrations visit the Saskatchewan Government Insurance.
Comments