News New NH child passenger safety law!

MotoMommaNH

New member
It's not official yet, as it has to be signed by the governor, but today the house and senate passed the new law. :jive: The new law will be less than 7 years old to be properly restrained (doesn't apply if the child is 57 inches). Used to be less than 6 years old and 55 inches.

Small steps...but in a 'live free or die' state, it was all we could do to get this passed. There are no laws for rear facing, harnessing, or boostering specifically. It's crazy!

It will take effect January 1st, 2014. :dance:
 
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thepote

New member
The vote was 227-126 along party lines. The Republicans in this state like to preserve the Live Free or Die (or, kill people) at any cost :mad:

No seatbelts or helmets needed here, folks.

Here are the procedural details of how it went down...

The original bill was for under eight years old and left the height requirement as is at 55". It was amended in the House Committee to seven years old/56". Went to the House floor where a floor amendment was proposed to have all kids under seven be required to ride in the back seat unless there is no back seat. That amendment failed and the bill passed the House with only the 7/56" provisions.

It continued to the Senate where it was amended back to the age on the original bill, eight, but increased the height to 57", then it passed on the Senate floor.

The House non-concurred with the Senate amendment so it went to a Conference Committee where they agreed on the final language: under 7 and 57"

The Senate adopted the Conference Committee's report in a voice vote; the House in a roll call vote along party lines that I mentioned above. The Republicans wanted to keep the law at under 6.
 

thepote

New member
Here is the blurb from the House Committee:

HB 242, relative to child passenger restraint requirements. OUGHT TO PASS WITH AMENDMENT. Rep. Elizabeth B Burtis for Transportation: This bill, as amended, brings the New Hampshire child restraint law closer to the nationally accepted best practice for child safety and changes the height restriction for requiring a child restraint device to 56” and changes the age restriction to six years of age increasing the existing law the age by one year and the height one inch. Medical and safety experts advocated for the passage of this bill. The majority of the committee felt the safety of New Hampshire’s children to be the most important consideration when voting on this bill. Vote 12-3.
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Most states don't have rear facing or booster laws. NH is coming in line with others.

The great thing about a proper use state is that you don't then need to go through the lawmakers to make changes. Evenflo just made all of their booster minimums four years old. So guess what, NH, that means it's illegal to booster in an Evenflo seat before four. Without NH lifting a finger. Britax puts the minimum on the Frontier at two. It's illegal to use a Frontier for a one year old. It's illegal to forward face in a Dorel seat before 34". That's nearly two years old for the average child. NH doesn't have to push it through the lawbooks, it's automatically on there. So if we can get carseat manufacturers to start doing more like Dorel and put restrictions on that mean most kids will be 2+ to forward face then NH has to follow that, just like everyone else.

It's better, IMO, than a state that says 1 and 20 or 4/40 without a proper use clause.

Wendy
 

1mommy

New member
I don't know, my thought are that patents are more likely to pay attention to the law then the car seat manual. Speaking if which I need to read my manual again for my guide 65... I don't recall reading anything about minimum height to face forward, although I didn't read that section carefully as I have no plans to ff anytime soon.
 

thepote

New member
Most states don't have rear facing or booster laws. NH is coming in line with others.

The great thing about a proper use state is that you don't then need to go through the lawmakers to make changes. Evenflo just made all of their booster minimums four years old. So guess what, NH, that means it's illegal to booster in an Evenflo seat before four. Without NH lifting a finger. Britax puts the minimum on the Frontier at two. It's illegal to use a Frontier for a one year old. It's illegal to forward face in a Dorel seat before 34". That's nearly two years old for the average child. NH doesn't have to push it through the lawbooks, it's automatically on there. So if we can get carseat manufacturers to start doing more like Dorel and put restrictions on that mean most kids will be 2+ to forward face then NH has to follow that, just like everyone else.

It's better, IMO, than a state that says 1 and 20 or 4/40 without a proper use clause.

Wendy

I agree.. from what I've seen in NH it's much easier to have manufacturers slowly increase their protections. This state will always be behind in legislating what best practices are. You don't need to wear a seatbelt past age 18 for crying out loud. In my stoplight data gathering I see maybe 50% of adults wearing them :(
 

MotoMommaNH

New member
Most states don't have rear facing or booster laws. NH is coming in line with others.

The great thing about a proper use state is that you don't then need to go through the lawmakers to make changes. Evenflo just made all of their booster minimums four years old. So guess what, NH, that means it's illegal to booster in an Evenflo seat before four. Without NH lifting a finger. Britax puts the minimum on the Frontier at two. It's illegal to use a Frontier for a one year old. It's illegal to forward face in a Dorel seat before 34". That's nearly two years old for the average child. NH doesn't have to push it through the lawbooks, it's automatically on there. So if we can get carseat manufacturers to start doing more like Dorel and put restrictions on that mean most kids will be 2+ to forward face then NH has to follow that, just like everyone else.

It's better, IMO, than a state that says 1 and 20 or 4/40 without a proper use clause.

Wendy

I guess I didn't think of it that way with proper use. Makes sense.
Although, I'd really like to think NH is coming in line with others for child passenger safety...vehicle safety on a whole is really abhorrent. Like Thepote said, no helmet law or seatbelts 18+ especially encourages bad practices with adults that trickle down to their children who cannot advocate for themselves.
 

Athena

Well-known member
That's great news!

I don't think I'll ever be able to get over that, "Live free or die," slogan. It makes New Hampshire residents sound like a bunch of extremists and seems unfair to the many people who live there who aren't crazy. (no offense intended to any of you who obviously don't believe in dying or killing over the freedom to avoid car seat laws ;))
 

gsdguenter

Well-known member
That's great news!

I don't think I'll ever be able to get over that, "Live free or die," slogan. It makes New Hampshire residents sound like a bunch of extremists and seems unfair to the many people who live there who aren't crazy. (no offense intended to any of you who obviously don't believe in dying or killing over the freedom to avoid car seat laws ;))

I hate that saying. Whenever I say it, I say "Live Free and Die"
 

thepote

New member
Nice! Do you have any links to this information?

It's not law yet because the governor hasn't signed it, but you can get the bill's docket (the play-by-play, so to speak) if you input the bill number on the Legislature page at NH.gov. The bill number is HB242, enter it like that with no spaces.

I'd link but I'm on my phone which would take a lot of work ;)
 

linneabw

New member
I lived in NH (from MN) for a couple years and hated the 'live free or die' slogan and it's on the license plate so you see it all the time! But I don't think the generalization of everyone is unfair since a lot of people aren't born and raised NHers! BUT I did see tons of unbuckled people and even young children!
 

thepote

New member
I lived in NH (from MN) for a couple years and hated the 'live free or die' slogan and it's on the license plate so you see it all the time! But I don't think the generalization of everyone is unfair since a lot of people aren't born and raised NHers! BUT I did see tons of unbuckled people and even young children!

Just FYI.... Some of us born and raised in NH (even <gulp> ~northern~ NH for the first 18y) realize that the Live Free or Die thing is ridiculous.

And I swear, from hearing people talk you would think everyone has a friend who overturned their truck in the stream or was thrown clear and would have died if they were wearing their seatbelt :rolleyes:
 

MJHY27

New member
Hey! I'm from northern NH :) and yep, I still live here! haha. I am one of the natives who doesn't mind the Live Free or Die slogan. I just choose not to apply it to not wearing seat belts or buying fireworks! :)

For those who might not know the origin, it came from a John Stark quote and he was a Revolutionary War hero from NH. It was officially adopted in 1945 as the state motto.

I find a lot of NH people I know do wear seat belts anyway. It shouldn't have to be a law, it's common sense! But I know we don't live in that perfect world so I do wish our state would change it and follow all the other states. I don't like to think of parents not wearing their seat belts and then in an accident becoming a dangerous projectile to other innocent seat belt wearing people they ride with.
 

thepote

New member
Hey! I'm from northern NH :) and yep, I still live here! haha. I am one of the natives who doesn't mind the Live Free or Die slogan. I just choose not to apply it to not wearing seat belts or buying fireworks! :)

For those who might not know the origin, it came from a John Stark quote and he was a Revolutionary War hero from NH. It was officially adopted in 1945 as the state motto.

I find a lot of NH people I know do wear seat belts anyway. It shouldn't have to be a law, it's common sense! But I know we don't live in that perfect world so I do wish our state would change it and follow all the other states. I don't like to think of parents not wearing their seat belts and then in an accident becoming a dangerous projectile to other innocent seat belt wearing people they ride with.

You're the one who put the cow moo fr cover on CL after the accident thread a few months ago, right? If so, your town is progressive for up there ;) My hometown... Not so much :p At the moment it has half its downtown storefronts empty and two new prisons to, you know, boost the economy after the inevitable collapse of the paper industry :rolleyes:
 

MJHY27

New member
You're the one who put the cow moo fr cover on CL after the accident thread a few months ago, right? If so, your town is progressive for up there ;) My hometown... Not so much :p At the moment it has half its downtown storefronts empty and two new prisons to, you know, boost the economy after the inevitable collapse of the paper industry :rolleyes:

haha yep, that's me. Yes our town is quite active now that we have a Subway! Not much going on up here for sure, but a great place to live if you like mountains and woods and not a lot of people! :)
 

NewEngland

New member
Another NH resident here who doesn't mind the "live free or die" slogan (I don't claim to be from NH, just a current resident). I'm all about educating people about carseat use (and seatbelt use), but I totally understand, and often appreciate, the lax regulations. I don't see much extended RF where I live, but I generally see folks wearing seatbelts. I also see an awful lot of improperly restrained kids, but I think that's pretty common no matter where you live. I'm in a suburban-to-rural area about 15 miles west of Nashua, for reference.

All in all, if we all followed the proper use rules, many kids would be a lot safer.
 

hgpswimmer4

New member
I live close to NH so I know what the laws are like there. I agree with the Live Free or Die slogan but NOT when it comes to safety like this. In MA the neighboring state, the law requires children in boosters until age 8 or 4'9" and children under 8 have to be in the back seat if available, and if not, the passenger air bag must be disabled. I've seen people get pulled over by cops for turning babies forward facing before 1yr/20#
 

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