REPORT TITLE:
Child Passenger Restraints


DESCRIPTION:
Requires child under four years old instead of under three years
old to be properly restrained in child passenger seat.  Children
under four years of age but over three years of age who are in
excess of 40 pounds may be restrained by seat belts. (HB1 HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 1        
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO CHILD PASSENGER SAFETY.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Findings and purpose.  The legislature finds
 
 2 that, according to the National Traffic Safety Administration,
 
 3 many children die or are disabled in survivable crashes because
 
 4 they were not properly restrained in car seats or seat belts.  In
 
 5 Hawaii, children between the ages of three and four who ride in
 
 6 cars may be legally, but unsafely, restrained with seat belts
 
 7 rather than car seats.  Seat belts are designed for older
 
 8 children and adults, not children in this age group whose size
 
 9 and physical development make seat belts less effective and, in
 
10 some cases, unsafe.
 
11      The purpose of this Act is to increase the safety of
 
12 Hawaii's children by amending Hawaii's child passenger restraint
 
13 law to better address the physical development of the children
 
14 being restrained.
 
15      SECTION 2.  Section 291-11.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
16 amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
 
17      "(a)  Except as otherwise provided in this section, no
 
18 person operating a motor vehicle on a public highway in the State
 
19 shall transport a child under four years of age [except under the
 
20 following circumstances:] unless:
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1        
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      (1)  [If the child is under three years of age, the] The
 
 2           person operating the motor vehicle [shall ensure]
 
 3           ensures that the child is properly restrained in a
 
 4           child passenger restraint system approved by the United
 
 5           States Department of Transportation at the time of its
 
 6           manufacture; or
 
 7      (2)  If the child is three years of age or older but less
 
 8           than four years of age, and weighs in excess of 40
 
 9           pounds, the person operating the motor vehicle [must
 
10           either ensure] ensures that the child is properly
 
11           restrained in a child passenger restraint system
 
12           approved by the United States Department of
 
13           Transportation at the time of its manufacture or
 
14           [ensure] that the child is restrained by a seat belt
 
15           assembly."
 
16      SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
17 New statutory material is underscored.
 
18      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999.