A new Maine car seat law that was passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Mills in June goes into effect on September 19. Here are the changes you need to be aware of.

The law was put in place to better protect children with stronger requirements for car seats. The biggest change is a requirement for all children under 2 need to be in a rear-facing car seat. Surprisingly enough, until now there was no law requiring rear-facing car seats.

The new law also raises weight requirements. Children who face forward in a car set used to have to be harnessed until they weighed 40 pounds. Now they must be harnessed until they weigh 55 pounds.

Finally, the new law says that children must be in a booster seat until they are 8-years-old or weigh 80 pounds, whichever comes first.

You can read the law as written and see the changes that were made on the Maine Legislature's website at the link below.

 

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