When Did Car Seats Become Mandatory?
Car seats first became mandatory in the state of Tennessee in 1978. Since then, all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories of Guam, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands have all passed laws requiring car safety seats for infants and small children.
In addition to basic safety seat laws, 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have laws that require children who are not large enough to use adult seat belts to have booster seats or similar devices. The only states that do not require these are South Dakota and Florida. In addition, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and California require seat belts on school buses.
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