Transportation leaders want to tighten Florida child seat requirements

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The National Transportation Safety Board wants to tighten up Florida's child seat safety requirements.

The sunshine state currently does not require car booster seats for children four to seven.

Zondra Hunter, the marketing supervisor and child safety technician with the Safety Council of Palm Beach County, says compared to other states Florida is ranked low in terms of child passenger safety laws.

"With Senate Bill 238 it's going to up that law to protect children in child restraints through age seven or four foot nine inches...which is a really great thing for the state of Florida," said Hunter.

Under Florida's current laws, it's only required that children three and under be in a separate carrier.

"We could save a lot of lives and accidental injuries to our kids if we could get them in child restraints," said Hunter.

Child restraints include "high back boosters" or "no back boosters".

"We've been pushing for this for a long time. There's a lot of child passenger safety advocates throughout Palm Beach County and throughout the state that would love to see this happen," said Hunter.

The car seat bill is still in the beginning stages and needs multiple approvals before becoming a law.

Child passenger safety advocates do recommend keeping children seven and under in booster seats while in a moving vehicle.