(Radio Iowa) - A study finds many Iowa parents stop using child seats and booster seats as their children grow, despite those seats being an important safety measure -- plus, it's the law.
In Iowa, kids between one and six years old must be secured in a child restraint system -- a safety seat or booster seat, not a seat belt -- or the driver faces fines. Brian Ortner, spokesman for Triple-A-Iowa, says the study is based on five years of government crash data and it reveals a concerning trend. Ortner says it found 93-percent of Iowa parents transition their children to an adult seat belt too soon, while 24-percent transition their kids to a booster seat too soon.
The study also found almost three-quarters of car seats that were inspected were not being used correctly or were improperly installed.