For those of us that live in provinces without booster legislation (I'm in SK) what does it take to get it legislated? Have their been any movements to do so? How did it come about it in the other provinces?
In some cases it's injury prevention pushes that get the legislation moving forward, in Alberta, the only way it will happen under the current government is if enough citizens write in expressing that they want there to be a booster law.
Last I heard about Alberta is that the Premier mentioned something about a booster law, but nothing ever went forward about it.
The NWT/Nunuvut have one of the most lax laws around. The only thing it says if in a child Restrain until 40lbs. Thats it, Nothing about RFing or FFing, or and age.
As far as I know there isn't even anything in the works to change that either....
There is no rf'ing or ff'ing in AB law either - but we have proper use, which gives rf'ing and ff'ing by that. The law itself is just under 6 or under 40lbs must be properly restrained.
Last time I had a conversation with some of the people deep inside injury prevention in the province what I was told is that the government feels "Albertans don't like to be told what to do" and that there won't be a law that comes in to effect basically until there's public pressure. I've been told that the best way to get a law enacted is through writing letters to your MLA, the premier, and the minister of transport. Apparently handwritten letters are weighted as representing a certain amount of the population since so few people take the time and effort to write a letter and mail it these days...
I have a letter that was close to completion, but never finished it.
Are the courses in SK offered through SGI, or is it through St. John's Ambulance.....or perhaps the SK Prevention Institute?
Those are my guesses....but I'm not really sure. Just curious!
SGI runs the course for free, but teaches the SJA curriculum and certifies techs through SJA.
The Edmonton area news stations have actually been pretty good at regularly having spots on car seat safety. As for local law enforcement, there are a few certified techs on the Edmonton Police Service, and I can tell you that the ones I have met are very passionate and truly are trying to make a difference. There are roadside checks set up in Edmonton and area where there are techs with the officers roadside, but they're only semi-regular.
Most police on traffic duty should know the different parts of the law and what to write a ticket on - and because you can be fined for not having a seat top tethered, they would be aware that seats legally need to be tethered. However - a seat has to be occupied for a ticket to be issued, and if a parent is being pulled over for some reason, they may or may not check how the child is restrained. And really, given that most officers aren't trained to evaluate misuse at a glance - and realistically can't be, it's not necessarily a bad thing.
The course that myself, hipmaman, and quassee taught in Ontario had some members of law enforcement in it, and they were very grateful to be taking the course. They expressed how they always wanted to be able to give information when they had people pulled over for traffic stops, but were never completely sure that what they were seeing was right or wrong unless it was blatantly obvious. They were very much looking forward to being able to spot what was correct and incorrect in the future, and being able to give accurate information. I would guess that this would be the case with most police officers - but training takes resources, and police have a whole lot of different areas that they are responsible for in the interest of enforcing the law.
Would it be nice to see higher levels of enforcement? Yes, provided it was accurate enforcement. Do I see it happening anytime soon? No, not at all - there's just not the resources.
FWIW, in Alberta, parents can be ticketed for children who are out of a harnessed seat but not in a booster if the seatbelt isn't being worn properly. And given the uncomfortable fit of most lap/shoulder belts when a child is small enough to be in a booster, it's a high probability that the shoulder belt will be under the arm or behind the back. So tickets do get written for that - just as they get written for improper booster use... we may not have a booster law, but if you're using one and then misuse it, you can be ticketed for it. I don't know the law in all provinces the way I do the AB law, but it's kind of an odd law in many ways. For instance, I could tell you by looking at a seat that a child is ff'ing in a seat that doesn't allow it before a year - but most techs wouldn't know which models have the 1yr age minimum and which don't... even techs have limitations based on what part of their job involves being a tech.
Anyways, there's the novel on things in Alberta. We need to catch up with the other provinces. I do believe that SK or else MB has booster legislation in the works, and AB has the research now to support the need for booster legislation - it's just a matter of convincing the politicians that whether the public likes it or not, they need to be told what to do in this case.