Carseat laws for grandparents in Illinois?

Is it true that grandparents don't have to have carseats/boosters for their grandchildren?
My mom and her new husband insist it is a law, they checked with their assistant pastor at their church(who is also a police officer).

She is always taking her new husband's grandkids out to ice cream, ect.. (that is whole nother thread how she treats them better than my kids :mad:).... I told her she has an expired LOW BACK booster in her car-it even has cracks in the plastic!(AVENT BABY IS THE BRAND).
She takes the 3 1/2 year old with her(she is about 34 pounds tops and very short), 6 year old(43 pounds, very short). She puts the 3 1/2 year old in a low back booster(has been since she was 18 months) and the 6 year old in a seatbelt or sometimes in the front seat.(she has an 89 corisca, so she says it is safe to use in front seat since it has no airbags, (UGHH).

So, I offered and even left at her house two low back boosters of mine(graco)....and even offered to help with the cost of a graco nautilus or apex.

She gave me the low backs back at easter and said they were taking up to much room! :eek::mad:

So..... I drove with her once with the boys a few weeks back and she was upset that I had Logan and Michael(5 and 3) in carseats and thought it was a pain in the butt.

I don't know how to get it through to her head. SHe has seen my myspace page www.myspace.com/carseatsafteynut ....

Ughhh!!! Can I call the police on her?
 
ADS
U

Unregistered1

Guest
I have no idea what you can do with someone who is that determined not to use seats, but hearing you talk is making me :mad: I can't even find that brand in the pictorial guide to CRs, how old is it?!

Could you maybe educate the PARENT of these children to the point where they would insist that the grandparents use seats?
 

katiesmommy

Active member
I'm reading through the law right now, and I'm seeing nothing about a grandparents exemption. Here's what I'm finding:

"Any person who drives a specified vehicle on a highway when a passenger in the vehicle is a child under the age of 8 years shall properly secure the child in an appropriate child restraint system, unless such child is 57 or more inches tall"
 
I am pretty sure it was avent baby or advent baby..
The mother of this girl/boy has an older son who is 18, mabey it was his?

I have talked to the mom on easter sunday about it, she is fine with it. She is a nutcase anyways.
 

Leila

New member
There is an exemption in IL carseat law, but it's not specific to grandparents. Basically what the law says is that a person who is not the PARENT of the child is not required to use a seat IF the parent has not supplied one for the child's use. Here's the law in question:

Public Act 93-0100

SB52 Enrolled LRB093 02134 DRH 02141 b

AN ACT in relation to vehicles.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Child Passenger Protection Act is amended
by changing Sections 2, 4, 4a, 4b, and 5 as follows:

(625 ILCS 25/2) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 1102)
Sec. 2. Legislative Finding - Purpose. The General
Assembly finds that a substantial number of passengers under
the age of 8 years riding in motor vehicles, which are most
frequently operated by a parent, annually die or sustain
serious physical injury as a direct result of not being
placed in an appropriate a child passenger restraint system.
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for
children of every age from 4 to 14 years old. The General
Assembly further finds that the safety of the motoring public
is seriously threatened as indicated by the significant
number of traffic accidents annually caused, directly or
indirectly, by driver distraction or other impairment of
driving ability induced by the movement or actions of
unrestrained passengers under the age of 8 years.
It is the purpose of this Act to further protect the
health, safety and welfare of motor vehicle passengers under
the age of 8 years and the motoring public through the
proper utilization of approved child restraint systems.
(Source: P.A. 83-8.)

(625 ILCS 25/4) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 1104)
Sec. 4. When any person is transporting a child in this
State under the age of 8 years in a non-commercial motor
vehicle of the first division, a motor vehicle of the second
division with a gross vehicle weight rating of 9,000 pounds
or less, or a recreational vehicle on the roadways, streets
or highways of this State, such person shall be responsible
for providing for the protection of such child by properly
securing him or her in an appropriate a child restraint
system. The parent or legal guardian of a child under the age
of 8 years shall provide a child restraint system to any
person who transports his or her child. Any person who
transports the child of another shall not be in violation of
this Section unless a child restraint system was provided by
the parent or legal guardian but not used to transport the
child.

For purposes of this Section and Section 4b 4a, "child
restraint system" means any device which meets the standards
of the United States Department of Transportation designed to
restrain, seat or position children, which also includes a
booster seat.
A child weighing more than 40 pounds may be transported
in the back seat of a motor vehicle while wearing only a lap
belt if the back seat of the motor vehicle is not equipped
with a combination lap and shoulder belt.
(Source: P.A. 88-17.)

(625 ILCS 25/4a) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 1104a)
Sec. 4a. Every person, when transporting a child 8
years of age or older but under the age of 16, as provided in
Section 4 of this Act, shall be responsible for properly
securing that child in either a child restraint system or
seat belts.
(Source: P.A. 92-171, eff. 1-1-02.)

(625 ILCS 25/4b)
Sec. 4b. Children 8 years of age or older but under
the age of 18; seat belts. Every person under the age of 18
years, when transporting a child 8 years of age or older
but under the age of 18 years, as provided in Section 4 of
this Act, shall be responsible for securing that child in a
properly adjusted and fastened seat safety belt or an
appropriate child restraint system.
(Source: P.A. 90-369, eff. 1-1-98.)

(625 ILCS 25/5) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 1105)
Sec. 5. In no event shall a person's failure to secure a
child under 8 6 years of age in an approved child restraint
system or properly secure such child, if age 4 or 5, in a
seat belt constitute contributory negligence or be admissible
as evidence in the trial of any civil action.
(Source: P.A. 86-1241.)

There's also proper usage in this law, so if the mother is providing seats, they have to comply with the laws as written.

In other words, if your mother has a 34lb child in a booster that says 40lbs and up...not ok. (I know most boosters say 30lbs and up, just an example.) If the sixe year old is riding up front without any seat...not ok.

I hope that helps some! And I pray that IL lawmakers come to their senses and get rid of that aspect of the law yesterday!
 
Thank you! That is the law I was looking for. Well, this police officer also has his 10 month old daughter who is 15 pounds FF and has been FF since 6 months old !!! :eek:

Darn, Illinois for the rule. I hate that she is traveling this way with the kids, even though I despise their mom(LOL). But...even if I think the kids are a brat and their mom is a b%TCH I still care for their life, KWIM?
 

HEVY

New member
So the law does not exempt her, it exempts her from the legal responsibility if there were an accident. If she were to be pulled over for whatever the parent of the child would be fined. If the parent is so unconcerned and won't provide seats, even after appealing to her then next time you see it take a pic (if you happen to have a cam or sell phone with one, or carry one when you know you'll see her) and report her for not providing a seat. I know it's a bit much, sorry been kinda in a randy mood past couple days. But I'm sure it'll wake her up.
 

CTPDMom

Ambassador - CPS Technician
That public act is specific, though, that the parent must supply an appropriate seat or THEY are in violation of the law. So perhaps you should talk to the mom, print out the public act above, and let her know that she needs to get seats to her dad for them to use.

And, imo, that's such an asinine law. Hold the person transporting the kids responsible. Period. I mean, really, how can you enforce such a law?
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
Great law:eek:

Because, ya know, children are so much less dead if mom and dad aren't there to oversee the event.

(also feeling grumpy)
 

Sarabela

New member
It really is maddening! My mother uses a car seat for my niece that she babysits but she almost always uses it wrong. Everytime she stops here I check it and fix it and try to educate her but she usually gets defensive and her favorite line is "you kids never even used seat belts nevermind carseats and you are fine" and I always come back with "but we were never in an accident!". I can't count on 2 hands how many times we have said those lines to each other. I think that yes, you can call the cops on her but hopefully she will not know it was you because it would be a shame to damage your relationship with her. I do, however, feel it is an important enough issue to risk it.
 
I am going to send the mom of these kids the info about the law saying she is responsable....and she will be the one fined and not my mom and her dad.
I think that would help. She is always saying how they don't have money!
 

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