New child seat law now in effect

CALGARY — Infant buckets, boosters and car seats with five-point harnesses lined with the kind of foam that protects race-car drivers sit along the back wall of Kacz’ Kids store in southern Calgary.

Each complies with new federal regulations that take effect Jan. 1 designed to make child car seats safer.

“Well, we’re feeding kids way too much. They get too . . . much fat in the food and the kids are just bigger,” said Wally Kaczmarek, who’s run the store for 27 years. An infant seat must now hold babies up to 10 kilograms.

Seats for older children will have to fit 30 kg: previously, child seats were made for kids up to 22 kg.

But Kaczmarek doesn’t recommend buying a new seat unless the old one has expired or been in an accident.

Seats created under the older guidelines are still safe, he added, although each year design features are added to car seats.

One company, he said, is now using steel frame construction and memory foam. Typically, a seat will last about 10 years. After that, it should be dumped because the plastics degrade.

“Most people won’t notice the difference to the regulations because they are targeted mostly at the manufacturers,” said Dr. Richard Musto, the Calgary zone medical officer with Alberta Health Services. Many car seat makers have had almost a year to upgrade their designs, he added.

“People who have purchased their car seats in the last year or so may already have car seats that are compliant with the new regulations.”

Alberta law requires all children under six to be placed in properly fastened seats when travelling by car. Police check seats at checkstops and issue fines to wayward parents. The government provides a car seat class for anyone who flouts the fine.

“The law is not meant to be punitive, but to keep our children safe,” Musto said.

Yet parents are still failing to keep their children safe, Kaczmarek said.

“I’ve seen people using pillows, not using seatbelts. It’s a horror show,” he added.

His son Brennon Kaczmarek, who also works at Kacz’ Kids, agrees. Often parents are too quick to stuff their new, state-of-the-art child safety equipment in the car without bothering to figure out how it works.

“My biggest beef is when they don’t read the instructions,” he said. “I get rolled eyes. It boggles the mind.”

In a statement made public Thursday, federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said: “When these new regulations come into force . . . child car seats sold in Canada will meet Canada’s highest testing standards and therefore will be as safe as possible.”